


A New Kind of Epic

by rainlightlyn



Category: Epic (2013)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, genderbent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-11-25
Packaged: 2018-04-21 12:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4829843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainlightlyn/pseuds/rainlightlyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A re-telling of Epic with a twist. A teenage boy gets sucked into the world of the Jinn and has to help them save their world from Boggans with the help of the Leafman General Rona and her former student, Nodine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Someone once said; that if you stand still in the forest long enough, you’ll see signs of a hidden struggle. Raging between forces of Life and Decay. That the survival of the Forest itself depends on the outcome. And that the Good Guys need all the help they can get._

_And if you don’t believe it, take a close look._

_And if you still don’t…_

_Look closer._

*~*~*~*

Deep in a wild forest of south-western Connecticut, the raucous cawing of crows broke the silence. A trio of crows were in hot pursuit of a much smaller, faster prey. The object of the chase was doing everything it could to escape, darting all over among the tree branches, but with three large and determined birds on its tail, the tiny flyer was having very little success.

High on a tree branch, a video camera activated. Servos whirled as it began tracking the aerial chase. At the base of the camera was a red LED light, which began blinking as it transmitted an alert back to the GPS unit that was connected to the surveillance system.

Not far from the camera’s position, a loud beeping sounded as the alert reached its intended recipient. A gangly middle aged woman, with wild brown hair tied in a mess bun and wearing a beige shirt and long khaki skirt, started at the sudden sound and yanked the GPS unit off its holder on her belt. She glanced at it, noting the direction and position the alert was coming from, and started running along the forest path, humming quite happily. Unfortunately, Professor Rachel Bomba was not the most graceful runner out there. Almost immediately she ended up tripping on a rock to land flat on her face.

That wasn’t that uncommon of an occurrence for her and she never let it slow her down in the pursuit of her research. At once, she was back on her feet, peering up at the sky through a strange headset of her own creation. It consisted of a special camera and microphone set mounted on a set of straps and connected to a set of modified goggles.

“Ah oh oh!” she exclaimed as she caught sight of the chase going on over her head. Quickly she adjusted the set of lenses on one side of the goggles so the bird chase was slowed to the speed she thought was needed for what she was searching for.

The crows and their prey moved further off into the forest and Rachel followed along behind. With all her attention on the birds, she missed the tree root across the path and promptly tripped over it as well. Again she didn’t let it stop her and the woman was back on her feet and running after the birds.

The crows were closing in on the tiny bird, cutting off any escape. As it tried to dodge in one direction, one of the large black birds struck at it. The blow was decisive and sent its victim spiralling out of the sky. Its pitiful peeps followed it down.

Rachel Bomba immediately made a dive to catch the little creature. Yet again, her clumsiness struck and she fell just a few inches short. Still she wanted to check that the poor little thing had survived its fall so she reached into the bushes where it landed. What she found was a small ruby-throated hummingbird. It cheeped at her as she pushed up the googles and adjusted her glasses. The little bird gave her fingers a few pecks as she peered closer at it.

Hummingbirds weren’t that strange. In fact the Professor had noted there were quite a few that lived in this forest. This one, however, was definitely strange and actually gave her some of the first definitive proof of what she had spent most of her adult life searching for. Not only did the little bird have a bridle set over its beak, it had a perfect tiny saddle on its back.

The Professor gasped softly in surprise as she stared at this amazing find. Her light green eyes lit with wonder. Slowly she got to her feet and looked up into the tree branches. There was no longer any sign of the crows, not that she was much concerned about them, but she was hoping that once, just once she might get a glimpse of the very thing she looking for.

But from her place on the ground, there was nothing visible.

*~*~*~*

High above in the tree canopy, it was a different matter. The three crows, having dealt with the hummingbird, had swung around to take care of its rider. On the backs of the large birds were creatures one would expect to see in nightmares. Grey-skinned, bug-like, with armour made of bones, old bits of wood and desiccated nutshells. These were Boggans.

One of them spotted their quarry. It screeched and drew back an arrow on the crude bow it used. Released, the arrow flew straight at the teenaged girl dressed in bright green armour who was hanging at the end of a thin twig. At the last second, Nodine was able to swing out of the way of the oncoming threat. The arrow shot passed, barely missing her left side. Nodine gasped with the effort of avoiding that arrow. Her hazel brown eyes darted up then down as she looked for an escape, realizing how much trouble she was currently in.

Another arrow was fired at her and the girl was forced to release the grip of her left hand to avoid it. She dangled for a second by her right before losing that hold as well. Luckily there were many more branches below. She bounced off the first one she hit with a groan, but was able to just catch herself on the second.

Nodine was about to pull herself up when she had to suddenly yank her right arm away as another arrow hit the branch.  Right at the point of impact the wood of the tree swelled up, infected by Boggan Rot. That was the greatest danger from Boggan arrows. Not the injury caused by the arrow, but the Rot that the arrow points were coated in. The young teen knew she didn’t have any time to waste if she wanted to avoid that fate. She hauled herself up and started running along the tree branch, darting from side to side to make it as difficult as possible for the Boggans to fire more arrows at her.

The Boggans were determined though. One swooped close and fired again at the fleeing teen. Nodine was forced to leap off the branch just as the arrow zipped by and the crow dove past. She managed to, by swinging her arms and legs then stretching her body, to land crouched on another branch some distance down. The girl panted a little, trying to catch her breath as she looked back to see if she had managed to escape. The same crow dove again at her and she had to make another leap.

She had just made it to a third branch when three arrows hit in rapid succession in front of her. Nodine turned to go back the way she came only to be blocked by a fourth arrow strike. Before she could formulate any sort of plan to get away, another crow swooped by overhead. It passed so close that just the wind from it knocked the teen off the tree branch and sent her plummeting again. She couldn’t help but scream as she fell.

In another stroke of luck, she was able to slow her fall by grabbing onto a down-hanging oak branch. The leaves smacked past her face in rapid succession. She had hoped to hang onto that branch, but lost her grip because of the sudden stop once she reached the end of the branch.

“Whoa!” the teen cried out as she slipped. Still she was able to land on her feet on the limb below.

Barely. Almost as soon as Nodine’s feet touched the branch, the first Boggan crow was diving at her again. She made a frantic somersault over it then slid on her knees under the second bird, before having to avoid another three arrows and finally using the very end of a twig to spring-board away from the third crow.

Nodine snagged a branch in the neighbouring tree, whipped once around it before swinging onto a much larger one. The sudden change of trees had given her just enough time to start running again before the Boggans caught up. Only, running was not going to help her to escape pursuit for long, she needed another way to flee.

As if right on cue, a trio of hummingbirds appeared flying along on her right. All with riders in the same sort of armour she was wearing. Unfortunately, the one flying closest to her was the very last person Nodine wanted to see her in this particular situation.

“Need a lift?” The older woman asked, one hand resting on the hilt of the sword at her waist. The sunlight glinted off the golden circle crest on the woman’s helmet. That crest and the white, gold embroidered vest she was wearing indicating her high rank. Yes, General Rona was not the person Nodine had wanted to be rescued by.

“I don’t need your help!” the young teen answered. The unevenness of the branch was making her wave her arms to keep her balance as she ran.

“Uh… You’re running out of branch there, my dear.” There was almost amusement in Rona’s voice as she pointed out a very important fact.

Nodine smirked. Oh, she was more than stubborn enough to continue denying the truth. “Still don’t need your help!” As if just to prove her wrong, at that very moment one of the Boggan crows swooped down behind her and latched onto the shoulder pieces to her armour. She screamed as she was carried off.

Rona’s expression dropped from slight amusement to annoyance as she watched the three crows cart off the younger girl.

Boggans were not the most careful flyers and the crow nearly dropped Nodine at one point. When she was snagged again, it was by her left foot. This left her dangling upside down and caused her helmet to go flying off her head. The ponytail she kept her dark brown hair in whipped in the wind as Nodine struggled to figure out her next course of action was going to be.

“Whoa…oh!” Nodine cried out, looking up at her captor.

The Boggan flying that particular crow gave a stuttering screech, please with its prize. So pleased in fact that it never noticed the hummingbird matching speeds with it high above, or the green clad figure that dropped from it. Rona landed square on the monster’s back, causing the crow to veer sharply midair. The Boggan tried to grab its attacker, but Rona flipped back, landing near the crow’s tail feathers. She narrowed her blue eyes at it, evaluating what its next move might be.

The Boggan screeched in anger and swung its club at the older woman. Rona ducked the attempted blow and managed to circle around so that she had switched positions with the Boggan. She didn’t even draw her sword from its sheath as she rammed the hilt into the Boggans face. She followed that strike with a kick to the creature’s chin.

A second Boggan fired an arrow at one of the other warriors as it zipped past. The woman, slightly younger than Rona, jumped straight up out of her saddle to avoid the arrow and fired one in return before dropped back into the saddle again. Her arrow hit the Boggan in the chest and knocked it from its crow.

Rona made another strike with her sword hilt, managing to knock the Boggan back for a moment. In that brief period, she decided it was time to have a few words with the wayward teenager who was the cause of all this. “Why aren’t you with your group?” she demanded.

“What? I fly faster alone.” Nodine answered with a grin.

Rona stopped herself from rolling her eyes at that just by sheer force of will. Dealing with this girl was so exasperating at times and this was fast becoming one. “How do you not get this? You’re not the only one on this team, you know.” The older woman glanced up to check that her hummingbird was still overhead.

There was a tinge of laughter in Nodine’s voice. “So yell at one of them for a change.” No matter how much trouble she ended up in, she usually could not act serious about any of it.

Before Rona could answer to that sally, the Boggan was up and about to attack again. Rona barely flicked her eyes away from the younger girl as she blocked the intended blow with her still sheathed sword. Then she turned to look at the Boggan. “Do you hear that?” she asked it. “What am I supposed to do with this girl?”

The Boggan was not at all interested in conversations, even if it could answer sensibly. It screeched as it tried to press down on the older woman. Rona sighed and made a slight shrug as she told the Boggan “Yeah, you’re right. You’ve got your own problems.” With that she shoved the creature back just enough for her to flip over its head and give it a sharp kick off the crow. It gave a screeching scream as it fell away.

Rona’s hummingbird flew up alongside the crow and the General jumped back into the saddle. Once settled there, she brought her bird down so she could speak face to face with Nodine. “You’re a Leafwoman. You know how important today is.” Annoyance was beginning to colour her tone as she spoke to the younger girl.

Nodine shrugged and twisted from side to side a little. “You know what? I’m thinking maybe I’m just not cut out for this.” Honestly, being a Leafwoman had never been her idea in the first place.

“That’s the problem.” Rona retorted. “You are cut out for it. But I’m tired of waiting for you to prove it. Get a bird and get back to Moonhaven, or you’re done.” Having made her point, Rona started to turn her mount away.

“What?” Nodine asked in surprise. “You’re not going to help me now?”

Rona paused for a moment and gave the tiniest smirk. “I just did.” She said. With that she and the other two warriors turned and flew off. Nodine stared after them in disbelief. She couldn’t believe that Rona had actually done that. Literally left her hanging.

As the crow continued to carry her off further across the forest she shouted after the others, her voice rising as the distance grew. “That’s cool! I could probably jump from here!! JUST FOLLOW THE LAST GUY DOWN!”

*~*~*~*

The tiny creature fell through an open space in the trees. Unfortunately for it, it met the end that many a bug does every day. It landed with a green splat on the windshield of a fast moving yellow taxi. At the ‘bug’s’ impact, the elderly, grey female driver let out a cackle.

“Whoa! Incoming.” She glanced back at her passenger as she flicked the wipers on. “Bet you don’t see bugs like that in the city.”

The teenage boy, a faded red hoodie up over his head, watched as the splat was smeared across the glass. “Yeah. I miss it already.” he murmured in a rather disinterested tone. BJ truly wasn’t interested in making conversation.

The driver turned in her seat for a moment to look back at him before facing the road again. “He talks! Something on your mind, kid?”

BJ sighed. “What do you say to a total stranger?”

“Stranger?” the old woman exclaimed, staring at the teen in her rear-view mirror. She made a pointed gesture to the fare counter on the dash. “You and I go back twenty minutes!”

The attempt at humour managed to get a chuckle out of the teen. “Not you,” BJ leaned forward a little read the name off the displayed driver’s license, “Lorna. I mean the person I’m visiting.”

Lorna blinked and frowned a little. “I’m leaving you out here with someone you don’t know?” She turned around again to look back in concern.

BJ just shook his head and leaned across the backseat of the taxi to stare out the passenger-side window. “It’s okay, Lore. We weren’t always strangers. Maybe now things will be different.”

At that moment, Lorna pulled off the main road and onto up a winding dirt driveway, leading off through some trees. The driveway curved up into the over grown yard in front of a rather run down looking house. As soon as the taxi came to a stop, BJ opened the door and stepped out, hauling a small roller suitcase out as well. Lorna rolled down her window and leaned out, looking up at their destination.

“That… That’s not a house, that’s termites holding hands.” She waved a hand up at the building. “No offense.”

BJ chuckled. “Don’t worry Lore. I’ll be…” Before he could finish his sentence, the taxi sped off with its tires spinning in the dust.

“Call me you need a quick get-away kid!” Lorna called as she drove away, leaving the teen standing alone.

“…fine.” BJ finished. With a sigh he pulled back his hood, revealing short red-brown hair, as he looked up at the house he hadn’t seen in over ten years. It was both familiar and not at the same time. He could barely remember the last time he had been here. Slowly he made his way up to the front door, his heavy combat boots thudding on the wooden steps. Heaving another sigh he wiped his left hand on the leg of his black cargo shorts then knocked lightly on the glass of the door. When there was no answer, he peered in through one of the windows on either side of the door. Had his arrival been forgotten?

BJ shrugged and tried the door, finding it unlocked. Once it swung open, he called out a questioning, “Hello? Anyone home?” There was still no answer. He glanced around the entryway for a moment before stepping inside. The house was silent except for some soft electronic noises coming from a room filled with monitors and computers just off the front hall. “Hello?” he called out again.

Hanging on the wall were several shadow box displays. Most contained preserved insects and beetles. One did catch BJ’s attention however. Instead of insects it had a display of what looked like miniature spears, arrows, clubs, and other bits of tiny armour made of wood and bones. He bent down to take a closer look at it.

At that moment a door back in the kitchen slammed shut. BJ looked up to see his mother, Rachel Bomba wander in. The older woman was muttering to herself and examining something in her hand.

“Okay. No, actually, you know what? I should check this out…”  She hurried down the hall, paused then turned sharply into an extremely cluttered messy room, not even noticing her guest. “Yeah yeah… No that’s right there… Uh…”

BJ straightened and walked around the corner to watch as his mother literally started climbing the walls in search of whatever it was she was looking for. He was completely unsure of how to take this absent-mindedness.

"Um… Do we have – I had it we – Oh, no, it’s over here.” Rachel jumped down from the bookcase she had been climbing and snatched up a worn notebook off the table in the middle of the room. “Okay, yeah. Uh, let’s see…” Instantly her nose was buried in its pages. She was oblivious to everything as she walked across the hall to the equally cluttered library. BJ had to jump back a little to avoid being run over by her. Rachel’s voice lifted from a mutter to more of a lecturing or teaching tone as she voiced the conclusions she was drawing. “Made of – oh gosh! I don’t know, polished acorn shell and thin leather? Perhaps mouse-hide.”

She passed back into the first room, again brushing passed her son. This time she seemed aware that he was there, only since she gave an absently muttered, “Pardon me, excuse me, sorry.” She looked closer at the object in her hand then leaned over the table and adjusted a magnifying glass. “Correction: not mouse-hide. Shrew perhaps. Or – uh-- you know what actually, it could be vole.”

BJ sensed that there was no other point in waiting for his mom to notice him. “Hi Mom.” he said, standing in the doorway behind her.

“Oh!” Rachel started in surprise at the sudden words. She had been so focused on her discovery that she had forgotten everything else around her. She dropped her find on the table and whirled around, peering through her glasses at the teen. “Benny James!”

“Yeah.” The teen answered.

“You’re here!” The Professor rushed forward and hugged him tightly.

“Yeah.” BJ repeated.

“I didn’t realize today was… today.” Rachel looked up to examine the large and complex time keeping device hanging from the ceiling. She rested one hand on her hip as she frowned slightly at it.

BJ looked up at it as well as he answered. “It always is.”

Rachel grinned and looked back at her son. “Hey. Let me look at you! Oh, you look just like your father.” She stepped forward and put her hands up on his shoulders. BJ actually stood a few inches taller than her. The smile on her face turned nostalgic for a moment then she realized exactly how that sounded, especially considering her ex-husband’s recent illness and death. “Like – like he did…” she trailed off stammering in embarrassment. “You – you would if you know what I mean…”

BJ’s expression turned somber as well and he tucked his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie. “Mom…” He started to say.

“Do you… want to talk about it, if that’s…?” Rachel asked, but the teen just shook his head.

“Thanks, but I’ve been reading up on the five stages of grief. I’m working through them myself. I’m good like that.” BJ looked down and gave a sigh. “Actually there are a few things I’d like to talk about.”

But before he could continue any further, they were interrupted by a series of loud barks. BJ turned in time to see a grey ancient looking pug dash pass. It was bounding as fast as its three little legs could carry it, headed for the still open front door. Rachel jumped and lunged after the little animal.

“Oh, oh, oh! Mollie!” The Professor landed, as usual, face first on the floor, but she managed to snatch up the pug before it could make its escape. “Look who’s back!”

BJ’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Mollie?  She’s still alive?” he asked. He honestly couldn’t believe that the small dog that he could remember getting as a young boy was still around.

Rachel got up on her knees, struggling to keep a hold on the spunky old dog. Mollie alternated between trying to wiggle free and licking the woman’s face. “Well, you know, most of her. She may be down to three legs, but she’ll make a break for it the first chance she gets.” She chuckled as she lifted one of the dog’s ears and spoke loudly into it since the old animal was also starting to go deaf. “Mollie, go say hi.”

“Here, girl” BJ called, patting his legs as he bent down.

With that she set the pug down facing BJ and released her. Mollie ran almost straight for the teen who crouched down to greet her, but at the last moment ended up veering off and running into some boxes under the table in the room behind them. Both Rachel and BJ stood up again.

“Ah, there she goes.” The Professor laughed as the little dog circled around them. She continued cheerfully. “Her depth perception’s a little off, uh, and she has a tendency to run in circles. But, hey, that was closer than usual. She remembers you.”

The teen just stared at his mother as they could both hear glass shattering in the next room from something Mollie had knocked over. Just like the first glimpse he had had of his mother, BJ was not exactly sure what to make of all this.

Rachel quickly gathered up BJ’s suitcase and headed up the stairs. “So, I have a little surprise for you up here. Just follow me, take a look.” She hefted the suitcase into her arms for the last little climb. The young teen followed along behind his mother.

Mollie was following as well. BJ grinned and scooped up the pug. The little dog started licking his face, causing BJ to laugh. “Mollie! No… No kisses.” He gave the dog’s head a rub as he reached the top of the stairs.

“Well, here we are.” Rachel said, rather proudly, as she opened a purple painted door. “Welcome home.”

BJ’s eyebrows shot up as he took a few steps into his childhood bedroom. He stared in disbelief at the fact that absolutely nothing had been changed. The room was still decorated for a six year old child. The bed was far too short and was actually still one of those race-car beds. “It’s like I never left.” he said, unable to come up with anything else to say about it.

That seemed more than enough for Rachel. She stepped into the room behind him, eager to show everything off. She started pointing out all the different things that were still there. “All your things are here. You know, you got your cars and your comics, your turtle…” She trailed off then, seeing that the turtle tank actually had no occupant and was filled with long dead plants and cobwebs. “Oh dear…”

For the life of her, the Professor could not remember what had happened to that turtle. BJ just smiled a little and sat down on the bed. Rachel started stammering again as she turned back to her son. “Well, it-it’s good to have you back Benny James.”

The teen set the pug down on the floor. He had never liked his given name and had long since picked out a better nickname to go by. “Actually, I go by BJ now.”

“Oh! BJ. I like it.” Rachel washed her hands together in nervousness. Having her son around was going to take some getting used to. She wasn’t really sure how to handle things, especially since she had had almost no contact with BJ since she and his father had divorced. “It’s more, um, grown up.”

Just then the GPS unit on her belt went off again. “Oh! Um… Hmm…” Rachel exclaimed. She wanted to rush off to see what had set it off. Still, her son had only just arrived and it seemed rude if she did that.

“Do you have to get that?” BJ asked, eyeing the unit.

“Oh, no. No.” Rachel insisted, quickly turning off the alert. “That was just one of my sensors. I got a lot going on right now. Today is actually a highly unusual day.” She walked over and sat down on the bed next to him. She poked at the moon-shaped nightlight plugged in next to the bed. “There’s both a full moon tonight and the Summer Solstice, which only coincides every hundred years or so. So you know, I mean, you can imagine, it’s just crazy over here.”

The temptation to see what the cameras had recorded was too much for the Professor. She just had go see. She jumped back to her feet and made her way to the door. She took the handle of the suitcase and guided it over to the side of the bed. “Hey, uh… You probably want some time to settle in. I’m just going to let you make yourself at home, Benny Jam…” She was about to close the door behind her when she caught her mistake. “Oh! Nope. Who’s Benny James? BJ I mean.” She had leaned back in as she made her correction, but then vanished out the door again.

BJ could hear her retreating footsteps as his mom practically ran back down the stairs. He shook his head at her quickly made escape. Leaning over, he reached into the front pocket of the suitcase and pulled out a framed picture. It was a shot of him and his dad, a tall man with dark brown hair, both smiling at the camera with their arms around each other. He leaned back on the bed and braced his feet on the end.

“Okay, Dad. I’m trying. That was the deal.” He said to it, his voice thickening a little. He rested the rested the picture on his chest and closed his eyes. This was going to be harder than he thought.

Downstairs Rachel was busy checking the various monitors that showed views of the forest around the house. It didn’t take long for her to find which camera had been set off and as she went over the footage, she was sure she had caught something this time. She tapped in a command on the keyboard to zoom in on one image. The image was grainy and very blurry. Anyone else would dismiss anything in it as nothing at all, but Rachel Bomba was certain it revealed the image of something riding on the back of a hummingbird. She grinned in excitement.

*~*~*~*

In the forest, Rona and her two companions were making their way back to Moonhaven. None had noticed that they had zipped past one of the many cameras set up amongst the trees. The trio flew a winding aerial path, following the course of a steam. The birds would occasionally shift positions in the formation, but for the most part Rona’s remained in the lead.

Finally they reached the last leg and flew up a waterfall to come out over a wide pool of crystal clear water. They had reached the Jinn city of Moonhaven, the center of their world. Many different types of Jinn were going about their business. Dandelion Jinn, Thistle Jinn, Pinecone Jinn. Nearly all glanced skyward as the three hummingbirds passed.

Normally the returning Leafmen warriors wouldn’t attract this much attention. However this was Rona’s unit and ever since she had accepted the rank of General, hers always was noticed. She was after all the first female General in many many generations. And since Jinn have very long lives, that meant many centuries of time.

They passed a male Daisy Jinn and a young Marigold boy. “C’mon dad, you’re going to miss them.” The boy said excitedly to his father.

Two more Jinn children bounded after the flyers crying out, “Hey, Leafmen!”

One bounced off the cap of a Mushroom Jinn who looked up startled. “Huh? What?”

Rona paid no attention to the watchers as she and the other two came in for a landing at the great rock spire that was the very heart of Moonhaven. She was pleased to note the many Leafmen and women standing guard around it. She felt that even here, they couldn’t be too careful about the safety of the place and its inhabitants.

A junior Leafwoman stepped forward to hold the reins of her bird as it landed. As her two companions landed on either side of her, Rona swung out of the saddle. A double line of guards came to attention as she marched up to the entrance. The ferns covering it unfurled as she reached it.

The General paused as the vines covering the inner sanctum pulled back out of her way. Before entering she pulled off her helmet, revealing very short silver grey hair. She tucked the helmet under one arm as she walked to the center of the room. This was actually more of a large indoor garden. The intertwined stalks of flowers were like columns and the blossoms were the roof. Once at the middle, Rona immediately dropped to one knee, bowing respectfully to the room’s occupant.

“King Tarn, we need to discuss today ceremony. The Boggans have crossed our borders again and…”

“You’re not getting enough sunlight.” A rich male voice said. Rona looked up to see her King standing over a rather sad looking blue flower bud. The dark skinned man, in green leaf trousers, tunic, and white petal cape, was paying absolutely no attention to his General kneeling in front of him. Tarn cocked his head slightly, listening to something only he could hear. He smirked, brushing back his long black tail of hair. “Yes, it’s Rona. Well, I think she looks silly kneeling, too, but I can’t get her to stop doing it.” He said to the flower, shooting a glance in Rona’s direction.

Rona tried not to sigh at this. This was a habit of the King’s that she found rather irritating. She decided to ignore the flower conversation and continue with making her point to him. She rose to her feet and stepped forward. “I think the Boggans are scouting our defenses. You know they would do anything to stop you from choosing an heir. But don’t worry, I got a plan.”

“When we were kids, she wasn’t so serious.” King Tarn continued to the flower, still ignoring Rona.

She held out her free hand, trying desperately to draw his focus to this important matter, if only for just a few moments. “Would you like to hear my plan?”

Finally the man stood straight and looked at her, though his words were still directed to the flower. “And she had the most adorable smile.” Rona was not about to be side-tracked by the King’s little trip down memory lane. Since it looked like she actually had his attention for the moment, she was going to make certain he heard her out.

“Look, instead of a public ceremony, I go in with a small platoon,” she said quickly, “pretend we’re stopping for a drink. We grab a pod, bring it back to you. It blooms, the Life of the Forest continues. We’re in, we’re out.”

Tarn chuckled. “It doesn’t work like that. I can’t choose unless I’m there. It’s about the feeling.” He turned away from Rona and slowly waved a hand up at the great flowers overhead. They began to spread apart, letting in more sunlight. “I get it from the pods. I get it from the forest. I get it from all of us. There we are.” He looked back down at the little flower which was responding to the increase of light by blooming fully.

With that task completed, King Tarn walked passed one of the many pillars, lightly running a hand along it. “Don’t you have feelings, Rona?” he asked in an oddly pointed manner.

Rona wanted to sigh again in exasperation. It would not do to strangle some sense into her King, no matter how much she wanted to. She made to follow him, but not fast enough to keep him in sight. She glanced around trying to see where he had disappeared to. “Yes, I do. I feel this is a bad idea. The Boggans have never been this aggressive.”

She was so busy looking around and more focused on trying to talk the King around to her point of view that she didn’t notice the thin vine circling around her until it was too late. She gasped as it tightened, pinning her arms to her sides, and lifted her off the ground. The vine turned her so that she was facing Tarn again. The King was pretending to examine his fingernails.

“I’m not completely helpless, you know.” The dark-skinned man pointed out. Indeed, Tarn’s power over plants was his greatest defense.

Rona forced herself to not roll her eyes. “I am aware. But you’re the Life of the Forest. Looking after you is my duty.”

Tarn slowly turned to face her. “Is that the only reason you do it?” he asked, stepping closer. A slight smile was playing on his lips.

“Isn’t that reason enough?” Rona asked back, raising an eyebrow. The two of them did have history together. As children and youths they had been very close friends. Unfortunately, when Tarn was chosen as King, the difference in rank prevented them from becoming anything more. It had not been an easy decision for Rona to make.

The King stepped closer until they were nearly nose to nose. He caught her blue eyes with his warm brown ones. “If that’s the only reason there is.” Tarn had never felt that rank should have been what had come between them. He had always wanted to be more with the silver-haired woman.

“Your majesty…” Rona breathed softly, her mouth going dry.

“Yes?” Tarn drew out the single word as he leaned closer. The smile was much more pronounced now.

Rona suddenly felt something brush her ear. She suppressed the shiver that light touch caused and was very glad for the long sleeves of her uniform shirt for they hid the gooseflesh that was raised along her arms. She broke eye contact and saw that the very end of the vine holding her was the culprit. This time a sigh did escape her. “I’m not ticklish.”

The King threw back his head and laughed. “Oh! You used to be.” He wrinkled his nose at her and made a cutting gesture with one hand as he stepped back. The vines holding Rona relaxed their grip and dropped to the floor. Now Tarn’s voice went from playful to very kingly. “Very well. I understand your concern. But this is the one day in a hundred years I can choose an heir. If I don’t do this today, there won’t be a future to protect.”

Rona frowned as she watched King Tarn move off deeper into this inner garden, out of sight. This interview had not gone as she had hoped, and now she was faced with having to make sure Tarn stayed safe during this very important ceremony.

*~*~*~*


	2. Chapter 2

Far away from Moonhaven, in the rankest swampiest part of the forest, a single crow flew. This was the most desolate part of the forest where very few ever ventured. This place of rot and dead trees and bones was the home of the Boggans. Wrathwood.

The crow swooped in and landed on the largest of the dead tree stumps. On its back was a rat-like figure. It leapt off the bird and scurried deep into the stump, scampering along the twisting passages within the rotting wood. Once the figure reached the inner sections of the dead tree, it paused, lifting its head to reveal it was a young thick-set female. The reason for the first impression of rat was because of the rat-skin cloak she wore. The skull of the rat fitted close over Darla’s own head, the front incisors coming down over her rather fleshy nose.

Darla rose to her feet and made her way to the entrance hall deep inside Wrathwood where she would make her report. On either side of the entrance was a pair of Boggan guards. One was a Mosquito type and the other a larger Toad type. As she walked passed them Darla elbowed the smaller one hard enough to send it stumbling.

“I don’t think I saw a salute, Boggan!” She told it, snickering.

As she disappeared into the chamber beyond, the larger of the pair laughed at its companion’s misfortune. This enraged the Mosquito Boggan enough that the wacked the Toad Boggan over the head with its spear, knocking its bark faceplate askew. The Toad growled angrily and lunged at the smaller creature, tackling it.

Darla smirked at the chaos she had caused and resettled her new rat-skin cloak. Finally she stood before an older, very tall, and statuesque female Boggan standing at the edge of a vat of bubbling Rot. This one had a slightly blue hue to her grey skin and was wearing a cloak made from the skin of a bat complete with head and ears.

“We had a little skirmish with some Leafmen this morning. A rat got caught in the cross-fire, so I got a new coat.” Darla said. She turned to show it off then laughed nervously as the older Boggan showed no sign of interest. “It’s, uh, just like yours!”

Mandra, Queen of the Boggans, rolled her yellow eyes. She lifted the end of the staff she had been stirring in the Rot and examined what had gathered on the end. “Did you find the location of their ceremony?” she asked in irritated tone.

“Uh… Yes, Ma’am!” Darla immediately came to attention. It was never a good idea to make Mandra angry. “It’s way outside our borders.”

“You mean _their_ borders?” Mandra interrupted, snarling a little. She turned her head sharply in the younger Boggan’s direction. Slowly she made her way around the vat of Rot. “The Leafmen think they can keep us contained. Surround our beautiful island of Rot with their hideous green Forest.”

Darla clinched her fists. “So arrogant!” she agreed.

“All in the name of Balance. I’m sick of Balance.” Mandra stopped just in front of Darla. “No matter how much of the forest we destroy, the King re-grows it with one wave of his hand” She made a wave gesture with one hand to prove her point.

A scowl formed on Darla’s face at that. “He needs to be cut down! At the root!” she declared, jabbing a forceful finger. Mandra smiled, very pleased by this.

“Exactly.”

The two of them suddenly looked down to see a tiny green leaf at their feet. In such a dark dismal place, that bit of growth was completely unusual. Mandra’s smirk deepened as she lowered her Rot-staff and touched the end to the leaf.

“Today we’ll show them you just can’t stop the Rot. If the King dies without an heir, the Leafmen can’t re-grow anything. The Balance swings in our favour forever.” The leaf wilted and turned black. Rot spread along the thin tendril the leaf had grown from, racing back along it. It reached a second large leaf which turned instantly to dust. All that was left behind were three sharp spines, the veins of the leaf. Mandra walked over and pulled them loose. These were what Boggans used for arrows. “Leaving you and me rulers of a desperate, desiccated kingdom.”

She turned back to Darla and held out the arrows. The younger Boggan took hold of them and said, “I won’t let you down… Mom.” For that was the true nature of the pair’s relationship. Darla was not only the general of Mandra’s army, but her own flesh and blood daughter.

“I know you won’t.” Mandra replied calmly. She turned to walk away then said over her shoulder, “You look beautiful in rat. It’s… slimming.”

A wide smile broke out on Darla’s face and she giggled happily at her mother’s complement.

*~*~*~*

In Moonhaven, crowds of Jinn were beginning to gather. Jinn children were running about laughing. All were excited about the Grand Procession. Above the crowds, at the landing area for Leafmen hummingbirds, all the available warriors had received their final orders and were preparing to take their places. Rona was reviewing the assembled warriors with her second in command, Fione, when the other woman looked up at the sound of a commotion going on above them.

“Look out! Look out!” Nodine cried out as she came in for a landing.

There was a tiny smile on the redheaded Leafwoman’s lips as she said, off-handily, “Here comes your star pupil.” Rona turned to see and felt a wave of irritation wash over her.

The young teenager had finally made it back and was about to make a spectacular entrance for herself, on the back a ragged and ancient looking sparrow. The bird barely managed to reach the landing field and ended up skidding head first into the ground. Nodine went flying right of the head of the bird, but miraculously kept on her feet. She turned to check on the sparrow and sighed in relief as she looked around.

Rona stalked right over and demanded, “Where have you been?”

Nodine blinked. “Wait, you’re mad? You told me to get back and I’m back. On this!” She gestured back at the bird which, as if to prove just how difficult it had been to get there, gave a wheezing hacking cough. The type of cough that one would expect to see a vital organ appearing at the end of. The teen set her hands on her hips as she stood in front of the General.

“And you want credit for that?” Rona was not amused in the least. “You’re late. Find a real bird and get back to your group.”

The girl didn’t bother to hide her eye-roll. Yes, she was late getting there and the bird was not the sort of mount most warriors would want to be seen on, still she _had_ actually made it here, just as Rona had told her to. And completely on her own. Nodine had had enough. “You know what? No.”

The older woman stared in surprise as Nodine brushed past her. “What did you say?” she asked, hoping she had not just heard those words come out of the younger girl’s mouth.

“I’m not doing it. I’m not a little girl anymore and I’m tired of you treating me like one.” Nodine turned back towards Rona and set her hands on her hips again.

Rona stepped closer and lowered her voice. She did not want the others to over-hear this. Due to certain things, she and the girl had a slightly different relationship than Rona had with any of the other recruits. “I’m trying to help you. I’m _trying_ to look out for you.”

Nodine was in no mood to keep this argument quiet. At the moment she didn’t care who might be listening in, so her voice was just as loud as before. “I never asked you to do that!”

“Your mother did.” Rona retorted.

Nodine flinched and narrowed her hazel eyes. She hated it when that was brought it. Absolutely hated it. And worse, Rona _knew_ she hated it. Nodine had avoided talking about her mother for the most part almost since her death years ago. That was it. She was out of there. “Well you can stop.” She said snidely, brushing by Rona again and headed for her new mount. “I absolve you of all further responsibility in the raising of Young Nodine.”

This turn of events took Rona completely by surprise.  So surprised that she stuttered her next words. “Don’t walk away from me! I-I’m your commanding officer!” Nodine neither noticed the stutter nor cared about it.

“Not anymore!” she declared as she hauled herself back into the sparrow’s saddle. “I quit! Hyah!” With that she snapped the reins and gave the bird a sharp kick to send it into the air again. They flew by over Rona’s head and veered off into the forest. The sparrow began listing to one side and Nodine cried out to correct it. “Whoa! Thatta boy. Easy easy!”

Rona stared after them for a second and then looked down, frowning trying to figure out where the conversation had gone wrong. She wasn’t quite sure how to take this defection from Nodine. She didn’t get more than a second to think about it, however, for she immediately notice the amazed grin on Fione’s face. The redhead had obviously been watching the whole fiasco.

“What are you looking at?” Rona demanded, glaring at her second in command. Seeing the dark look on her senior officer’s face, Fione quickly cleared her expression.

“Nothing. I have no opinion on this.” She said, shaking her head for emphasis. Oh, she did have opinions, but Fione was not about to make them known to Rona. She turned away and raised a hand to the gathered troops, calling out, “Everyone, mount up!” The redhead walked away to get into the saddle with the others, leaving Rona to her thoughts. The General took a few seconds to look back in the direction that Nodine had flown away in, but she still had no time to waste on the girl. The Procession was about to begin.

The flag-bearers started off first, raising the leaf banners decorated with the crests of Moonhaven. These were followed by the Royal Barge, a collection of lily-pads interwoven by the King’s power. The Barge flew, towed by two dozen dragonflies. King Tarn stood on top of a large white water-lily surrounded by six specially trained bodyguards in bright white armour. An escort of more Leafmen and woman surrounded the Barge with Rona flying on the immediate left of it.

The crowd below cheered and waved at the Procession passed by overhead. Many called out to the King, who was more than happy to wave back. Tarn was a very popular king. At one point in the proceedings, Tarn turned to look up at where Rona was. He couldn’t help but chuckle at his General.

“Parade!” He called out to her when Rona glanced at him. “Fun! Smiling!” He pointed at the grin on his own face to emphasize the last part.

Rona merely looked away again as the Procession left the city and started on its way out into the forest. The flowers below glowed softly and each slowly turned so that the open blossoms continued to face the Royal Barge like it was the sun.

*~*~*~*

“Mom!” BJ called, looking around as he stepped out of the house. “Mom! Is this a good time to…” He trailed off for a moment as he caught sight of his mother. His eyebrows shot up as he took in the scene before him. “… talk?”

Rachel was currently high in a birch tree, clinging to a branch that was probably far too weak to support even her weight. She was using one foot to try to adjust the angle of the camera she placed there. “Ow! Hold on. I’ll be right down. Ow!... Ahh!”

At that moment, the Professor lost her balance and her grip on the tree. The branch she was on bent further at an alarming amount before she slipped. As she hit the ground with a thud the tree sprang straight again, launching the camera far into the woods like a catapult. The sound of glass shattering could be heard in the direction it had landed. When he saw his mother fall, BJ ran over to make sure she was all right. Mollie, who had come outside with him ran over as well and proceeded to wash Rachel’s face.

“Mollie! Mollie, stop!” Rachel said, laughing and pushing the little pug away. She gestured towards the forest. “Fetch the camera!”

Mollie started running in the direction for the fallen camera, but was almost immediately side-tracked by an itch. Being a dog, she stopped to scratch it. Unfortunately for Mollie, it was on the same side as her missing leg so when she did so, the pug fell over and ended up stuck on her side.

BJ leaned over his mother, a look of confusion on his face. Obviously falling out of trees was normal for her since she didn’t seem fazed, or hurt, at all by it. “Why do you have security cameras anyway? Do people around here steal old newspapers?” he asked, looking around the overgrown yard.

“Oh, no no. They’re not security cameras.” She answered. Rachel took off her glasses for a moment to make sure they weren’t damaged in the fall. She grinned up her son then pulled herself to her feet, brushing bits of dirt and grass from her clothes. “No, I have an extensive network all through the forest, yeah. I-I don’t know how much your father told you about my work.” She started back to the house. Mollie managed to wiggle back onto her feet and ran after the Professor.

“Um… he… nothing.” BJ told her as he followed behind. He brushed back a bit of his bangs behind one ear. “Just that you have a delusional belief in an advanced society of tiny people living in the woods and it, well, it ruined your career not to mention your marriage…” BJ hesitated when he saw his mom stop and look back him with a rather wounded expression. “Or something?”

Rachel rubbed the back of her neck and tried to laugh off the awkward moment. She went up the front steps of the house then paused to drop a tiny handful of birdseed on a little table she had set up with one of her cameras focused on it. “Well, your father had a wonderful sense of humour. But I’m not delusional. I know they’re out there. It’s intuition. Like scientists intuited the atom.”

She opened the front door as she continued speaking. BJ paused as well before going inside to look down at the strange sight of the table with birdseed. That sort of thing did not help him to believe his father wasn’t right.

Rachel took out her iPod as she walked into one of the rooms off the front hallway. “These little guys are a big part of the ecosystem, the engine if you will, and I will prove it. Here.” She plugged the device into a set of speakers she had mounted on her equipment vest. The sounds of screeching bats began to play.

“You have bat sounds on your iPod? Why?” BJ asked, not all together sure about his mother’s sanity at this point.

“To study them. They don’t really fly in your hair, you see. That-that’s a myth. Uh…” Rachel explained, absently waving her hands at her own hair, which was starting to fall out of its messy bun, to emphasize her point about the myth. She gestured back at the speakers again. “But I was trying to identify the frequencies that draw bats to gather with their own kind. So I slowed the sounds down and put them through some proprietary filters…” She turned on several more strange machines, hitting one a couple of times to get it working. The professor then held a bulky set of headphones to one ear. The recording began playing at a much slower speed. BJ tried not to flinch at the way the bat calls were sounding now. “And guess what I heard?” Rachel finished, a big grin crossing her face.

The teen sighed and answered unenthusiastically, “Voices?”

Rachel was not even put off by that, she was so excited about her discovery. “Yes!”

BJ leaned down next to his mother to listen closely to the sounds. He did have to admit there was something like distant indistinct chattering to be heard. He wasn’t convinced it was real though, since you could get the same result just from random white noise. He glanced at his mother’s amazed expression as Mollie stood up on her hind legs between them and started growling at the speakers.

“Isn’t that cool?” Rachel asked in whisper, almost giddy with excitement.

“Okay…” BJ said, standing up again. He had to do something rein in his mother’s delusions. Surely if he spelled out exactly how crazy she sounded, she might see reason. “If tiny people are flying around in the forest, how come I’ve never seen them?”

“No, that’s easy.” She laughed as she answered him. “It’s-it’s the same reason we can’t hear them. They-they just move too fast,” A fly began buzzing around their heads and Rachel pointed at it as a way to explain her point, “like insects! Did you ever wonder why it was so hard to swat a fly? My theory is they’re actually living faster. Like in a different dimension.”

BJ gave her a strange look as she waved her hands about over the _different dimension_ part of her theory. Seriously this was getting far out of hand. The fly that Rachel had been trying to brush away finally landed on the back of her right hand. Seeing that Rachel lifted her left, preparing to swat it, as she continued talking.

“So, no matter how fast we think we are, to them we’re just big and dumb and sloooow.” She drew out the last word as she attempted to swat the bug. Unfortunately it had managed to fly away before the blow could connect.

“Have you ever seen one?” the teen asked.

Rachel peeked under her hand and frowned a little seeing that she had missed the insect. Her son’s question caught her attention and she made a slight face. “Well, you know, uh… I haven’t uh… You know what? Just because you haven’t seen something, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Uh… I, you know, that’s…Come on…” She trailed off.

The fly buzzed passed Mollie who snapped at it. Thinking she had gotten it, the little pug puffed out her chest proudly. That is until it landed on her smushed-in nose. Offended at that, she growled.

“Okay, we need to talk.” BJ said, closing his green eyes for a second. He was beginning to get frustrated by all this.

“I know. It’s a lot to take in.” Rachel replied, totally misunderstanding her son’s comment.

“I mean about us.” He pointed out.

His mother was _still_ not getting it. “Oh, no! No, we’ll do it together. Yeah, both of us.” She turned away for a moment to pick up a bike helmet with the same goggles and camera set up that was on her own headset. She grinned and handed it over to BJ. “Here. I made this for you.”

He took the strange thing and sighed. “Mom, look, I’m almost old enough to be on my own anyway, so I think it would be better if I just…” BJ trailed off as he handed the helmet back to his mother.

Rachel took it and the happy expression she had faded. “Um… You don’t want to live here? That what you want?” she asked, disappointment in her voice.

“No,” BJ exclaimed, the frustration he had tried to contain jumping out. “That’s not what I want. I want you to stop! All this!” He swung his arm around to indicate the cluttered room with bits and boxes and books strewn everywhere. “And be normal. I just -- I want a mom who’s not…”

The beeping of Rachel’s GPS unit interrupted BJ at that moment. Both looked down at where is sat on the table and BJ could immediately see how antsy his mother became with wanting to see what was setting it off. He gave her a very pointed look, trying to keep her focused on what they were talking about instead of more of her delusions. Then more alarms started going off in the computer room behind Rachel. It was too late for BJ to keep her attention now.

“Oh, um… okay. This is big.  This is a big thing going on right now. Let me just find, uh…” She snatched up the unit and turned into the room behind her. BJ’s mouth dropped open for a second as his mother walked away.

“Where are you going?” he demanded.

Rachel was busy checking the various monitors as she answered absently, “I’m just going to investigate, you know, rather… Okay, somethi -- something must be happening.” She spun a dial and peered closely at one screen. Then she ran a hand through her messy hair and spun in a circle, already distracted by what she was doing. “Ooh! Uh… Let’s see. Where’s my camera?”

She turned and headed back into the other room, handing off the helmet to BJ as she passed him. He looked down at it then back at his mother. “Are you serious?” he asked, but Rachel didn’t even hear his question. It was more important to her to get outside and find the cause of all the alarms. She hurried around the room gathering up various things. Her equipment vest, a can of bug repellent, her notebook, and head set.

“You have to catch these things in the moment, while they’re happening,” she explained, “otherwise you could miss a chance that could be gone forever.”

BJ followed along behind her. His expression was going from shock to frustrated anger at his mother’s stubborn refusal to see reason. “You’re missing a chance right now. Are you even listening?”

She slung the vest on and settled the headset over her hair. Rachel then turned and put a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Look, you’ve got to believe me. I am so close. All I need is one little break-through. This could be it! I will clear this all up when I get back!” She did a final check of her things and rushed out the door. Two seconds later she stuck her head back inside. “I promise!”

With that she was gone, running off into the forest. BJ heaved a sigh and let the arm still holding the helmet drop to his side. “Sure, Mom. I’ll be here. In reality.”

He knew now this was never going to work out, no matter what he had promised his father. He could not keep staying here if his mother continued with her stupid delusions. This had been a bad idea from the start. He could now feel what it had must have been like for his father in the days leading up to his parents’ divorce.

A few minutes later he was coming back down the stairs with his roller suitcase thudding down each step. BJ was going to go back to the city. The teen went into his mother’s computer room and taped a note to one of the monitors where she would likely find it if she ever came back to the house. Mollie jumped up onto the old office chair, panting. He gave the dog a sad smile and a scratch behind the ears.

“Bye, Mollie. It’s not you.” He told her as he headed for the door. As he opened the door he was already on his cell, calling the cab company. “Uh, Lorna? I need that get-away cab. I said; pick me up by the -- Hello?” He pulled the phone away from his ear as the call went silent and growled in frustration again. “Ugh! No bars!”

What he didn’t realize was that, when his suitcase had caught on the door jam and he pulled it free, the front door didn’t close properly behind him. This left an opportunity for Mollie to make her great escape. The little rambunctious pug darted by BJ’s feet, barking loudly and knocking his suitcase off the steps. The teen didn’t pay any attention to that, however. He was more concerned about the dog’s escape.

“Mollie! Heel! Stop! Play dead!” he cried out, running after the amazingly fast three-legged animal. He could help but wonder out loud, “How are you so fast on three legs?” He thought he saw her run off into the forest, so he chased after her, repeatedly calling her name and hoping that the mostly deaf dog would actually hear it.

*~*~*~*

The Royal Barge flew regally through the trees, finally reaching the end of its journey. With grace it touched down lightly on a pond nearly covered in duckweed and lily-pads. Once the Barge reached the water, King Tarn released his power on the lily-pads that made up it. They relaxed onto the water, spreading out a little.

Now that the Procession was at the Pond of Royal Pods, its escort of Leafmen and women disbursed to take up positions in the surrounding trees. Rona circled her bird around to check that each group was where it was supposed to be. The leader of each group signaled back by waving his or her bow.

Below, on the pond, King Tarn walked out to the edge of the pads that had created the Barge. He paused for a moment as the duckweed gathered before him to create a path across the water’s surface. Once the path was there, he stepped onto it. His bodyguards remained behind. More duckweed gathered in front of him as he walked and behind him it shifted back into its loose random patterns again. The various large water-lilies opened into bloom as he passed them, like the flowers back in Moonhaven.

At the edge of the water, the Daisy father stood with his Marigold son. “Isn’t he cool?” he asked the boy.

The Marigold boy grinned excitedly. He, like many of the Jinn children, idolized the King. “He’s _awesome_! He moved those trees with his mind! Dad, can I be King when I grow up?” The boy’s green eyes shone brightly as he asked that question.

His father chuckled sadly and ruffled his son’s head petals. “Sorry, champ, it doesn’t work that way. Today, King Tarn gives his power to a special pod so that the Life of the Forest will continue.” He looked out at where the King was crouched next to some of the small lily pods floating in the pond. After a few seconds he turned back to the boy again. “It’s all very mysterious and -- Buddy? What are you doing?”

The boy was no longer paying attention to what his father was telling him. Instead he had the fingers of both hands pressed to his temples and his face all screwed up like he was concentrating really hard on something. The thing he was focusing his mind moved ever so slightly and huge grin broke out on his face as he turned back to his father.

“Dad! I did it!” he said excitedly, pointed back behind him. Unfortunately, the ‘thing’ he had been trying to control was not the stick that it appeared to be, but a female Stick Jinn. She turned to the boy and spread her arms, giving him a weird confused look.

“Did what?” she asked. This cause to Marigold boy to groan in disappointment.

Out at the center of the pond, awaiting the King’s arrival on a large lily-pad was a slender female snail and shorter heavier female slug. Just before Tarn reached them the snail turned the slug and said, “He’s coming! Don’t do anything to embarrass me, or it could ruin my chances of being a Leafwoman.”

As she straightened to stand at attention for the King, the slug scoffed at her. “Why do you want to be a Leafwoman? They gotta wear uniforms. Me? I like to let it all hang free.” With that she lifted her stomach a little then set it bouncing, giving it a reverbing smack. “You see this, you see that?”

A completely disgusted look crossed the snail’s face as she watched this. “Yeah, don’t – don’t do that. That – that’s vile…”

“Come on, I know you’ve got a little belly too.” The slug replied poking at her companion’s stomach as well. The snail was quite ticklish there and even that little poke caused her to start giggling, which she desperately tried to supress.

King Tarn, having reached their pad, gave a polite but amused cough and said, “Ladies.” The snail gasped and looked embarrassed while the slug merely grinned.

“Hey…” the snail replied weakly and then batted the slug away from her as she took a step forward. “Your Majesty. Hello.”

“It’s all right. Relax, it’s just me.” Tarn assured them. He turned to look around at the pods floating all around them. “Maude, Grubby, it’s a very nice looking group of Pods. I might have a hard time picking one. Do you have a favourite?” He turned back to the pair and crossed his arms.

“Well, Your Majesty, we have had quite the debate.” Grubby the snail replied.

“Really gone back and forth.” Maude put in, nodding.

Grubby waved at the surrounding pods as she continued. “You’ll note the carefully curated selection of sizes, densities, colours. With so many variables, you can’t be too hasty.” Grubby had absolutely no problem with drawing out the selection process for as long as possible. Maude, on the other hand, had already picked out what _she_ thought was the best choice. Barely even waiting for her companion to finish she pulled out a huge deep red pod and practically slammed it down in front of the King.

“Boo-yeah! Right here. Biggest in the bunch.” She said proudly. Grubby stared in horror at her friend’s audacity.

“Hmm.” King Tarn mused as he bent over the large pod. There was a slight unbelieving look on his dark face as he looked it over. This pod was all very nice, but, like he had mentioned to Rona back in Moonhaven, it just didn’t have the right _feel_ to it. “Well, that’s one way to go. How about…” He glanced around again and spotted just the right one. He pointed to his choice. “… that one.”

The King’s selection was a much smaller pod, nearly twice as small as the other pods and almost a quarter of the size of Maude’s choice. Maude went over to it, looking like she couldn’t believe that King Tarn would choose such a puny looking thing over her much healthier one. “What? That one? For real? But it’s so…”

“Perfect!” Grubby interrupted before the slug could finish what was probably going to be an insulting comment. She rushed over and pushed Maude away from the little pod. “It’s perfect. Excellent choice, Your Majesty. Sometimes the biggest one isn’t the best.” She smacked Maude’s touch away from it before gently lifting it out of the water. She glared back at the slug as she started back towards the King. “I told you Maude. He doesn’t like gaudy. Unlike you, he’s got class!” she whispered fiercely.

Tarn had to hide a grin at the pair’s antics. He gave the snail a little bow as he took the little white pod from her. He lifted it up and smiled as one of its tiny green roots twined around his fingers. “This is it. This is the one.” He said. Maude and Grubby sighed in happy awe as the King turned and held the pod high above his head so that all could see it.

High in one of the oak trees, Rona remained mounted on her hummingbird as she watched her King start to make his way back across the pond. She had her bow in her hand and one arrow just resting on the string. So far, so good. Soon this ceremony would be over and King Tarn would be back safe in Moonhaven. She scanned the area again and caught Fione’s eye for a moment just as she could hear some very distant cawing. The General was about to dismiss it as being too far away to worry about when something else caught her attention.

Next to her, one leaf was slowly withering and turning to dust. She leaned to examine it closely and then whispered, “Boggans.” She sat up again and suddenly turned in the saddle. She drew back her bow and fired. The arrow hit the trunk of the tree, instantly alerting the other Leafmen and women. Nearly all spun around and drew their bows, arrows trained on the place where Rona’s arrow was sticking out. Rona drew back a second arrow, her blue eyes sharp on that same place.

There was silence and nothing moved for the longest time. Finally a chunk of bark right next to Rona’s arrow shifted and fell away, revealing the shot Boggan that had been hidden there. It fell away with a groan. In that instant it was like the entire tree exploded as hundreds of Boggans threw off their bark camouflage.

“Your Majesty! Get to the Barge!” Rona yelled down to Tarn. The King looked up to see the mass of Boggans swarming on the oak tree. He tucked the pod under one arm and took off running across the surface of the pond, his white petal cape flaring out behind him.

A group of warriors leapt into action. The front ranks raised their bows and fired.  Once they had, a second rank leapfrogged over them and fired, followed by a third. Many of the first Boggans fell to these attacks.

Rona sent her humming bird diving out of the tree, swooping down to the pond. A double handful of other mounted Leafmen and women joined her as they encircled Tarn. All had their bows set and ready to fire on any attacking Boggans

A screech caught the King’s attention as he ran. He glanced to his right to see a Boggan chasing two of his subjects. It was the Daisy/Marigold father and son pair. His mouth firmed and he stretched out his right arm. At just the right moment, he made a beckoning motion and part of a root that the Boggan was about to pass snapped up. It knocked the creature aside and gave the pair a chance to make their escape.

The Marigold boy grinned and jumped in front of his father. “I told you he was awesome!” he cried, thrilled that his hero had saved them.

The commotion caught Rona’s attention and she looked back at the King. Tarn just gave her a grin that said _what?_ The General frowned and faced forward again. Ahead was the Royal Barge with the King’s bodyguards. The dragonflies took to the air, towing it towards the group hurrying to meet it. Rona could hear one of the guards give the order, “Hold the formation!” to the others.

A large group of Boggans charged across the pond. Grubby snatched up a tiny twig and brandished it. “This is it, Maude! My chance to be a Leaf –” she cried as the Boggans rushed them. Unfortunately for Grubby, she was completely ignored and was, in fact, sent spinning into the water.

“What?” Maude asked, having been even more ignored by the Boggans than the snail, as Grubby poked her eye stalks out of the pond. “Your chance to be a what?”

Out of the tree branches overhead, more Boggans dropped down, aiming for the herd of dragonflies. Rona and the others surrounding the King reacted instantly, taking aim. Some Boggans managed to avoid being hit by the arrows and their sudden impacts with the dragonflies knocked the insects from the air. A few of the Boggans jumped down on the mounted warriors as well, pulling them from their saddles one by one.

“Rona!” King Tarn yelled as even the General was knocked off into the pond. The silver haired woman struggled with her attacker as they sank through the water. Below, even more Boggans, Toad types, emerged from their underwater hiding places. These swam up and started yanking down the other pods.

Tarn held his chosen pod close as he looked around at the other disappearing pods. He knew at any moment, the Boggans would emerge to come after him. Seconds later five of them pulled themselves up out of the water and onto the large Lily-pad the King had stopped on. Surrounded and knowing he couldn’t take on so many at this close range, Tarn jumped into the air. He used his magic so that the effect of his landing would be increased and the bounce caused by it was more than enough to send all five Boggans flying back into the water.

The King knew that he was not safe yet so he called on his magic again. Even though he was worried about Rona, there were two very important factors against remaining there. One, he knew quite well that she could take care of herself. Two, she would not thank him at all for risking his life to help her. A green vine answered his call, curling around his upraised hand. Once he had a firm grip on it, the vine pulled Tarn up away from the pond and in among the trees.

He let go of the vine and slide down a broad leaf to the ground. There he continued running, drawing the leaves overhead together to form a protective shield. Unfortunately the Boggans had a way to deal with that. Using Rot-spears, they created holes in the leaves to jump through. One Boggan had managed to keep hold of its spear long enough to hurl it towards the fleeing King. It hit the ground ahead of Tarn and the ground swelling up with Rot. Tarn bent as he ran passed it. Instantly a tiny green plant started growing, curing the Rot.

As the wind whipped the trees high above, Leafmen and women dropped from the branches. They were not falling, but using their shields as parasails to glide to the ground. They came in to land as the Tarn ran past, on his back-trail. With shouted war-cries, the warriors charged the mob of Boggans chasing their King.

*~*~*~*


	3. 3

Not far from there, BJ was still wandering around in search of his dog. He was starting to get worried because storm clouds had started to gather and the wind was picking up. He didn’t want to leave poor Mollie out here if it was going to rain.

“Mollie?” he called as he made his way down an embankment. “Oh, come on, Mollie.”

The teen didn’t even notice how some of the plants nearby were dead.

*~*~*~*

In the branches of a tree overlooking the chaos, a pair of crows perched. Mandra and Darla watched the battle going on below from the birds’ backs.

“We had numbers, and we had the surprise part! How are we losing?” Darla asked her mother, disgusted.

“Patience, my dear.” Mandra assured her calmly. “The forest wasn’t grown in a day.”

Darla thought for a moment then smiled hopefully at the Boggan Queen. “But we can destroy it in one. Right?”

Mandra gave a pleased laugh and lifted her Rot-staff for emphasis. “That’s the spirit! You take the Pod, I’ll take the King.” With that she launched her crow into the air, her daughter following close behind.

*~*~*~*

With Boggans still after him, Tarn looked around for something that could slow them down. He spotted a large multi-branched root that ran across his path of escape. That would do nicely. As he approached it, the King used his magic to raise the root high in the air. As the Boggans followed him, the root slammed back to the ground right on top of them, taking out three. Tarn smirked as he glanced back to check his handiwork.

When he looked ahead again, he gasped and lurched to a stop. In front of him was a huge Boggan lifting a massive club over its head, ready to smash him. Before he could do anything to defend himself he heard a child grunting with effort. The King looked to the right to see the Marigold boy he had helped earlier standing on top of a bank of dirt and pulling back on another root.

The boy let go of it and Tarn ducked as it swung passed him, hitting the huge Boggan squarely. The creature was knocked back quite far by the strike. Boy and King shared a chuckle as Tarn looked back up at him. That shared moment was short lived, however, as more Boggans were headed their way. Tarn leapt up to the Marigold’s level and grabbed the boy’s hand.

“Nice one! You’re stealing my moves, boy!” he told the child as he pulled him along. A hummingbird zipped up beside them with a Leafwoman and the boy’s father on its back. The Daisy Jinn leaned down to pull his son onboard.

“Your Majesty, come with me!” The Leafwoman called out.

Tarn shook his head and didn’t break stride. “Take them to safety! I have to lead them away from the crowd!” He ordered as he disappeared some long grass with the Boggans in hot pursuit.

The Leafwoman turned her bird away and zoomed off, following her King’s orders. The Marigold boy yelled back to the retreating King, “You’re totally my hero!”

*~*~*~*

Back at the pond, Rona burst out of the water with a gasp for air. As she started to pull herself up onto the lily-pad, a Boggan grabbed onto her to pull her back into the pond. The General jabbed back with her elbow. The blow knocked the Boggan off and she was able to get out of the water.

She stood up and gave a sharp two fingered whistle. Her hummingbird answered the call, zipping down to her. As it reached her, the little bird folded its wings and rolled mid-air. Rona jumped and grabbed onto the raised back of the saddle. She used the momentum of the bird righting itself again to swing up into the saddle.

Unable to see the King anywhere, Rona flew off in what she hoped would be the right direction.

*~*~*~*

Tarn had reached the end of the long grass with Boggans still after him. It was time for a change of course. With a leap, he started running up a row of blue daisies that shifted into a path for him. From there he shifted to some sword ferns that did the same. When the ferns ran out, the branch of a great maple tree swung down for him to jump to. The King paused as the branch lifted him and looked back to see that the Boggans had been left behind.

He didn’t stop there since so far it had proved that they were not going to give up. He jumped to a second branch and ran along it until he could jump to a third. As he reached the end of that branch, Tarn jumped into open air, confident that he could use his magic to further aid his escape.

He didn’t have to however, since right at that moment, Rona appeared on her hummingbird to catch him. Tarn ended up sitting cross-ways on the front of her saddle. She put one arm around his back to keep him from falling backwards off while Tarn grabbed onto her shoulder for balance.

“Okay,” the King told her with a grin, “so maybe you were right.”

Rona smirked a little. “Remind me to gloat later.”

The two looked at each other for a brief moment until a black Boggan arrow flew through the small space between them, startling both. Both looked in the direction it had gone for a second then Rona whipped her head around to look back at where it had come from, her expression hardening. Tarn’s grin dropped as he looked as well. Behind them, taking turns firing arrows at them, were Mandra and Darla.

Mandra got off a shot which Rona knocked away using the vambrace on her left arm. Darla made her shot, laughing. Rona snagged this arrow out of the air and then turned to fire it back at the two Boggan females. The arrow hit Darla right in the chest, knocking her off her crow.

Mandra had just fired off another arrow at the fleeing General and King when she saw her daughter fall. “Darla! No!” She screamed as she turned her crow away to dive down after the falling Boggan.

Rona turned back to Tarn, a smirk already starting to form on her lips, only to find he wasn’t there. The expression dropped from her face as she saw him fall away from her, the pod still clutched in one arm as the King reached out the other to her. Even worse was the arrow Rona could see sticking out from the dark man’s side. Rona’s blue eyes widened as she stretched her arm to him in a futile effort.

Lightening flashed in the storm that was gathering overhead as the King fell away, his long tail of hair and white petal cape streaming in the wind. As he dropped he held the pod closer, curling around it to keep it safe.

*~*~*~*

“Mollie!” BJ called just as thundered rolled above him. At the sudden sound he flinched and looked up at the sky, suddenly worried about the storm he could hear. The wind was now blowing strong enough that dead leaves and bits of dirt were being blown about. As another crack of lightening flashed, BJ ducked his head in instinctive reaction to it. When he looked back up, he could see a strange flickering dot of light fall towards him.

As it drew closer, BJ realised that it wasn’t a dot or even a ball of light. He wasn’t quite sure what it was in fact. It came down and was cradled by a fern which slowly lowered it to the ground. The teen was fascinated by this and knelt to get a closer look. He gasped at what he saw then.

It almost looked like the flicking image of a very tiny person. A man with dark skin and green clothing.

Ominous creaks sounding above him and BJ looked up to see the tops of several of the surrounding trees move to close off the sky. He didn’t get any time to think about this as he looked back at the tiny figure on the ground. The man seemed to look up at him for a moment then lifted a small pale green object to his lips. A golden glow passed from the man to the thing, which then flew up into the air towards the teenager.

BJ reached out and caught the tiny glowing thing with both hands without even thinking of what he was doing. As soon as it was in his hands the glow got brighter and suddenly BJ felt strange force pulling on his hands, yanking him to his feet. He also discovered that he absolutely couldn’t let go of the thing he had grabbed.

He was so surprised by what was happening that he never noticed the hummingbird with another tiny person appearing.

That strange force from before pulled on his hands again, dragging him backwards. BJ cried out in shock as his feet suddenly left the ground and he was lifted into the air. The wind of the storm picked up and started spinning him around and around. The teen curled into a fetal position, hoping that whatever was going on, he could keep from getting hurt by doing so.

By doing that, BJ didn’t pick up on some of the other things going on at that moment. The leaves that were being blown along with him were suddenly getting bigger. The trees were becoming huge and further away from him. The only thing he did notice was that the thing he had in his hands was getting bigger and bigger. He still could not release it though.

The wind started to die down just as quickly as it had strengthened. BJ felt himself getting spun down towards the ground again. He slid down a suddenly giant fern frond to land with a thud on his back. Slowly he sat up and looked down in confusion at the glowing flower pod he held in one arm. “Huh?” he muttered and started to look around.

At this point he might have noticed the change in his surroundings, except that he spotted the crumpled figure of a person not far away from where he was, the man’s white cape fanned out under him. The person groaned softly and BJ scrambled to his feet. Not even thinking about it, he hung onto the pod as he ran over to the man.

“Are you okay? Are you all right?” he asked as he dropped onto his knees beside him. The teen put a hand on the man’s arm only to have him roll over to face BJ. When the man did that, BJ gasped in shock at the black arrow sticking out of the man’s side. “Oh, gosh, that – that’s an arrow. Should – should I pull it out?” BJ stammered, knowing he needed to do something for this person, but completely unsure what. “I don’t know what to do…”

Tarn reached up and took the young teen’s free hand as the pod wrapped a root around it as well. “Take the Pod to Neem Galuu.” he said, pain thick in his voice. The fallen King closed his eyes and sank back against the moss.

“Neem what? You need a doctor. Somebody call…” BJ raised his voice as he started to look around. As he did so, he felt a tug on his left hand. He looked down to see the root of the pod entangled in his fingers. Distracted, he asked, “What is this thing?”

“It’s the Life of the Forest.” Tarn answered as he tried to take a wavering breath. His strength had almost run out now that he had transferred his power to the pod.

BJ looked back and forth from the pod to the man lying on ground, trying to make sense of what he had been told. Then a rustling above him caught his attention and BJ looked up in surprise. A group of about two dozen armoured men and women jumped down, surrounding the pair. The teen swallowed hard as he looked at them, wondering who they were and if they a danger to him and the injured man. As they encircled him, BJ set the pod down and gathered the older man into his arms, thinking that he need to protect him somehow.

Just beyond the circle of warriors, Rona’s bird landed. The General dropped out of the saddle before the bird even touched down. Seeing what was before her, the older woman threw off her helmet and rushed to the King’s side. “Tarn!” she cried. With a broken look on her face, she took the injured King from the teenage boy and cradled him against her shoulder.

Realising that these people were not a danger and that at least this woman cared deeply from the man, BJ picked up the pod again and slowly stood up, taking a few backward steps. The faces of the soldiers around him all had nearly identical looks of horrified grief on them.

Rona struggled to say something, anything, to reassure the King that he would be all right. This was a completely nightmare for her. Tarn sensed her there and slowly opened his eyes, the warm brown light in them starting to fade. “So serious…” he whispered with a very faint smile for his General. Rona wanted to try to smile back, but she just couldn’t find it in her to do it. Even as she held him, she could feel Tarn’s life slip away. The King gave a soft sigh and closed his eyes again.

With that King Tarn was gone.

General Rona squeezed her eyes shut against tears as she pressed her forehead against the King’s. She held his body tightly for a few moments rocking slightly as it began to glow brightly, turning into tiny bits of moss. The glowing moss bits that had once been Tarn floated up into the air. The trees leaned back into their normal positions, revealing the sky again as the moss continued higher still to be visible for miles.

As it disappeared, all the Leafmen and women gathered there dropped respectfully to one knee, bowing their heads. Rona remained slumped on her knees beside where the King had lain. The arrow that had killed the King rested on the ground right in front of the General. The place it sat smoked slightly and suddenly the ground moss turned black and died.  The black circle spread out from the arrow, reaching just pass where BJ stood. The moss under the teen’s boots, however, remained green.

BJ inhaled sharply, seeing this, and held the pod tightly against him. The pod responded by tightening its roots around his forearms. If he didn’t know better he could swear that it was afraid of the way that dead black circle had appeared.

The warriors slowly stood up again, leaving the silver-haired woman as the last on her knees. Fione took a step forward and rested a comforting hand on her superior’s shoulder. Rona turned her head away from the comfort and Fione stepped back again. Slowly the General got to her feet with a sigh.

BJ knew he really needed to say something to her. “I’m so sorry.”

After a second, a bit of life came back into Rona’s face as she lifted her head to look at him. “What did he say to you?” she asked. The teen chewed his lip and shrugged a little.

“Something about glue…? Or a canoe…?” he answered hesitantly. Though the words held absolutely no meaning to him, they obviously did the woman.

“Neem Galuu.” Rona replied.

Fione stepped up to her shoulder and said, “The scroll-keeper.”

Rona turned slightly towards her second in command. “We know nothing about the Pod without Tarn, but maybe she does. Take the Leafmen to Moonhaven. Fortify it. Keep everyone safe.” She ordered. A very concerned look crossed Fione’s face.

“What about you?” she asked softly. Rona had started to turn away again when that question stopped her. She straightened and looked back at the redheaded Leafwoman.

“Mandra will be looking for this Pod, but she won’t be looking for a Leafwoman traveling alone.” She answered.

Fione tilted her head slightly and gave Rona a look. “That’s not what I meant.” Truly the redhead was worried about the General. Rona’s close relationship with the King was almost an open secret among the ranks. Fione knew that losing Tarn like that would have cut the other woman deeply.

Rona refused to face that though. She merely put a hand on Fione’s shoulder and said softly, “I know what you meant.” She stepped back and looked around at the others. When she spoke next, she sounded just like the General she was. “I’ll send word when I reach Neem’s”

That was the cue for the group to disperse and make their way back to Moonhaven. BJ looked around in confusion as they all started to run off. “Who are you people? Is this some sort of re-enactment? Or some –” he trailed off as a giant bumble-bee lumbered by, buzzing slowly. BJ blinked and commented, “That’s a big bug.”

“No, it’s about average, actually.” Rona corrected as she walked over to him. The teen looked at her for a second then chuckled.

“Then what? I’m tiny?” The amused expression on BJ’s face suddenly dropped away as his words actually registered with him. A gasp escaped as his green eyes widened and he looked up to see just how far away the trees were. The sword ferns were closer. “Oh, no.” He looked around again and saw some of the soldiers jump onto the backs of hummingbirds, flying off. A couple were climbing up the ferns. “No. No, no, no. Wait…”

Rona could sense the teen was about to go into a panic. BJ was still muttering the word _no_ over and over as he backed away, slowly turning in circles. She followed him, moving carefully and speaking slowly to keep from startling him further. “I’m not sure why the King brought you here either, but he gave you that Pod, so you have to come with me.”

“Make me big!” BJ turned to her and demanded.

She was taken aback at the sudden demand. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not going anywhere until you make me big again!” The teen insisted to the older woman. Rona gave a sigh and rolled her eyes. Why was she always saddled with teenagers who were only focused on their own problems?

“You know what? I don’t do magic. You can talk to Neem Galuu about that, she might know something.” She told the boy and reached to take the pod from him. As she did so, the pods roots wrapped tight around BJ’s arms, obviously not wanting to leave his possession.

“Might?” BJ yelped.

At that moment, Maude appeared and shoved her way between them. Rona was forced to let go of the pod and step back. Great, now she had this to deal with as well. Frustrated, the General set her hands on her hips.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Not so fast, soldier girl. You do not yank on a Pod okay?” Maude cried, giving the General an evil look. She did a double take as she glanced back at BJ.  Seeing the teen she turned away from Rona and moved closer to him. “Especially when it’s attached to something so cute.”

BJ backed away from the advancing creature, his eyes wide as saucers. “Talking snails.” he muttered unable to keep the shocked look from his face.

Maude gave him a flirtatious smile. “Actually, she’s a snail.” She said, nodding her head back at Grubby who had come up beside her. “I’m a slug. No shell over here, honey. It just slows me down.” BJ took another step back and leaned as far away as he could when he realized the slug was flirting with him.

Grubby turned away from them and back to Rona. The snail grinned happily and asked, “Rona, right? Head of the Leafmen? Big fan. I just love what you do with your jaw.” Rona glared at her in annoyance and, indeed, her jaw was jutting slightly to one side. “Yes, that!” Grubby said excitedly, then she straightened and tried to act as official as a hopeful Leafwoman should be. “We are the official Pod caretakers, ma’am.”

Maude came back to face Rona as well. “It can’t survive without us.” she said pointedly.

“We keep it moist.” Grubby put in.

“Moist is what we do.” Maude finished, sticking her eyestalks right into Rona’s face for a second the settled back next to the snail.

“You’re kidding.” Rona stared at the pair in disbelief. The last thing she wanted to do was have to haul not only a reluctant teen with her, but also these two as well. Unfortunately the slug’s and snail’s expressions did not change one bit. Rona sighed, barely keeping it from being a groan. “You’re not kidding. Fine.”

With a grunt of effort, she slung first Maude, then Grubby onto the back of her hummingbird. “Word of the King’s passing will travel fast…” She then turned to BJ. “We have to travel faster. With all this extra weight, we’re going to need another bird.”

Still feeling like he was trapped in some strange dream, BJ slowly walked forward. “Bird. Of course.”

*~*~*~*

Soon the group was in the air. Rona had been silent ever since they had taken off. She was still dealing with the loss of Tarn and she wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk to the others. BJ tried to respect the woman’s grief and keep the quiet she seemed to want, but something began to eat at him. This whole situation was completely bizarre, but it also made a strangely weird amount of sense. This was exactly what his mother had being talking about. He finally had to ask.

“By any chance, you don’t happen to be part of an advanced society of tiny people living in the woods, do you?” He leaned forward from his seat between the older woman and the slug and snail. Just after he asked his question there was a burst of laughter behind him. Both him and Rona glanced back to see Maude and Grubby practically hanging off the hummingbird’s tail, mouths open and eyestalks fluttering in the wind. They looked exactly like a pair of dogs with their heads out the windows of a moving car.

Rona faced forward again and closed her eyes for a second. “Some are more advanced than others.” she said, not exactly sure if the person they were headed to find was any more mature than the two riding behind them.

*~*~*~*

A fast moving flock of birds raced across a meadow towards a single large tree. They made a circuit around it at high speed as an announcer called out, “… And that’s another lap down. These racers are in it to win and they better be. We’ve got some heavy betting in the crowd today.” The crowd watching the race cheered as the birds passed by. Only one among the crowd was doing anything but enjoying the race. The track owner, a female frog dressed in a garish blue pantsuit. She was watching more with speculation, her two goon/assistants on either side of her. “They’re clustering together…” The announcer’s voice faded as the racers headed out on the next lap.

“I’m telling you, this is where I belong.” Nodine called out to her sparrow, giving it a pat on the neck. She was more than happy to have left being a Leafwoman behind. This was the life especially since racing was one of her passions.

One of the other racers, a blue Beetle Jinn, buffeted her bird from behind. “You belong at the back of the pack!”

Nodine glanced back at the other racer and gave a shrug. “I mean racing! The best one wins. No other rules, nobody telling you what to do.” The Beetle Jinn was joined by a female Stick Jinn, who came up on Nodine’s left.

“You talk too much! And you ain’t winning this race!” she sneered at the brunette teen.

Nodine shrugged again and pointed to her ears as she answered, amusement in her voice, “Sorry, can’t hear you! Going too fast!” she then flicked the reins, sending her sparrow into a steep dive. The move made it possible for her to catch up to the leader, a male Jinn riding a bluebird.

“Hey!” he called out with a mocking laugh. “Nice old fleabag you got there.”

“It’s not the bird. It’s how you ride it.” she called back, smirking. She didn’t even care about how inappropriate her words had sounded. The guy’s expression turned nasty as he held up a fat grub. Nodine’s eyes widened.

“Oh, yeah? Prove it.” With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the grub right in front of her sparrow’s beak. “Fetch!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Nodine cried out, leaning back and pulling hard on the reins as her mount dove after the treat. She was very thankful for the fingerless gloves she wore that protected her hands at that moment. Her bird refused to listen to her commands though. Distantly she could hear the announcer’s comments.

“Now that’s a dirty trick, which, let’s face it, is exactly what we’ve come to see. This is bird-racing, folks, it’s not a parade. Looks like Nodine’s out of the race.” Sounded from where the watching crowd was.

“FINAL LAP!” called out by the young Jinn waving a white feather at the finish line, just as the rest of the racers passed.

The grub hit the ground and bounced before her sparrow managed to catch it. Now that she had a chance of regaining control over the bird, Nodine glanced up just in time to see them headed straight into a tangle of brambles and gasped. It took all her skill as a flyer to guide them through the mess without getting caught up on any of it. At the last second she spotted the narrow gap between two vertical branches and headed straight for it.

Nodine could tell that there was no chance of her fitting through there if she stayed in the saddle, however. The gap was just too narrow for that. With a grunt of effort, she jumped up in the air, turning sideways as they reached it. Her sparrow managed to squeeze through and her own momentum let Nodine regain the saddle on the other side.

The race pack zipped by as they got back into clear air and Nodine urged her bird after them. She was not about to go down that easily. Not after that trick. As she worked her way back to the front position, the announcer called out, “Wait a minute, is that… Nodine is down but not out! Don’t let her old bird fool you! The girl’s on the comeback trail!”

The pleased smile that the frog Bufa had been wearing when Nodine’s bird had dropped after the grub turned sour as the girl appeared back in the race and looked to win.

The Stick Jinn had the first place spot and glared at the teen as she came up beside her. “You know what we’ll do if you win?” she asked menacingly. Nodine just smirked, glancing back at the other racers trailing behind.

“I dunno, lose?” Nodine answered smugly. She snapped her reins, encouraging a final burst of speed from the old sparrow as they raced for the finish line.

“It’s the final lap. They are beak to beak, wing to wing… And it’s Nodine by a tail feather!” the announcer called out excitedly as Nodine’s sparrow dove under the root that was the finish line as the spotted feather was waved. Nodine sat up in the saddle grinning down at the cheering crowd as the end of the race was announced. Down below Bufa was not happy, though her two goons looked more than pleased by what was going to end up happening to this winner. “The odds-on favourite takes it home. I bet there’s a lot of happy faces in the crowd right now…”

*~*~*~*

Nodine tumbled across the floor of the track’s bird-stables with a cry after being hit. Her roll was stopped by the foot of the larger of Bufa’s goons. Being the cocky girl she was, Nodine just had to say breathlessly, “Is that the best you’ve got?”

She was hauled up and off her feet, lifted up by the larger of the two as the skinny one slammed a fist into the girl’s gut. Nodine grunted from the blow as the skinny thug asked, “How was that?”

“Better…” she answered weakly.

“Nodine,” Bufa said from behind them as the frog petted one of the racing birds, “you know I like you.”

The young teen let out a gasping breath as she was dropped back to the floor. She stumbled a little and grabbed onto the bigger thug’s arm to steady herself. “Yeah, I like you too, Ms. Bufa.”

The frog gave an annoyed look and hopped over to her. Bufa stood straight again and crossed her arms “And yet, you don’t do what we agreed. We agreed that you would lose, but then you win.”

The two thugs grabbed Nodine’s arms to make sure the girl could go nowhere. Nodine tried to yank free as she spoke to Bufa. “Now I can’t help it if I’m fast. You want me to lose; you gotta get me some better competition.”

“It’s called teamwork.” Bufa said as four of the other racers stepped out of the hallway. None of them had pleasant expressions. This was the real truth about bird-racing. It was entirely fixed. The winners were predetermined so that the owner, Bufa, took in the most money from wagers. “Maybe if you understood that, the Leafmen wouldn’t have kicked you out.”

“They did _not_ kick me out. I quit.” She retorted angrily. Nodine tried to take a step towards the frog only to be pulled back the two goons holding her arms. Bufa just laughed at that show of defiance.

“I admire your independent spirit, Nodine. I’ll miss that.” With a snap of the frog’s fingers, Nodine was lifted up and held high against the wall of the stable. Bufa turned away and added over her shoulder, “Feed her to something. A snake would be good.”

Nodine scrambled to think of a way to get herself out of this mess when, almost like usual, a very familiar voice spoke up. One that she had hoped to never hear again. “Nah, snakes just swallow you whole. Now if you put her in a hornet’s nest, that’s a show.” Rona said as she came in from the open stable entrance.

“Ah, look. It’s Rona,” Bufa said with an annoyed sigh. She waved a hand to the two holding Nodine and they released her, letting her drop back to the floor. The girl gave the pair unhappy look and rubbed one shoulder. “… defender of the weak, pooper of parties, here to ruin the fun.”

There was almost a smirk on the General’s face as she pointed out, “I didn’t ruin all of it. I let you hit her.”

Nodine turned her glare on the older woman at that and muttered through gritted teeth, holding up two fingers, “Twice!” Rona didn’t even glance in her direction. Instead she kept her blue eyes squarely on the frog.

“Hop along now, little froggy.” She told Bufa pointedly as she gave a very slight nod in the direction of the hallway deeper into the tree. Bufa took the hint and stepped back, holding up both hands in surrender.

“Easy there, Rona. It’s a big forest out there. Even Leafwomen gotta sleep.” With that final almost threat, she, her goons, and the other racers vanished inside.

Once they were alone, Nodine shook her head and ran one hand over her ponytail. “You’re wasting your time. I’m not coming back.” she told Rona and that was the truth. No matter what the General had to say, she was determined to never go back to being a Leafwoman. She hardly even noticed how Rona was more interested in making sure the two of them were the only ones in the stables.

“I’m not asking.” the older woman replied absently as she walked around checking every corner for eavesdroppers.

“Oh, I see.” Nodine scoffed. “The old reverse psychology. Make me feel guilty, get me to beg you.”

Rona turned back to the younger girl, her expression hard. “I didn’t come for you. The King is dead.”

This left Nodine stunned. She froze and any hint of amusement dropped from her manner for once. “What? How?” she asked.

“Boggan ambush.” Rona answered shortly, meeting Nodine’s eyes.

A cold lump formed in the pit of Nodine’s stomach. Even she knew how much Rona had cared about King Tarn. She could easily imagine what the General must be going through now. She stammered, “Rona, I-I don’t know what to say. He was your…” Nodine stopped herself from completing that sentence. The last thing she wanted to do was pour salt on what must be an already open wound. “I’m sorry. What’s going to happen to us? To the forest?”

Rona gave a nod in acknowledgement of the apology. In answer to Nodine’s question, she said, “If we don’t get the pod to Neem Galuu’s, the forest will die.”

Neither noticed that they did in fact have an eavesdropper. Bufa silently retreated back into the shadows of the hallway.

“Let me get my saddle.” Nodine told Rona, walking past the older woman. It was obvious to her that getting her help was the reason that the General was here.

“What?” Rona asked with an unamused laugh as she when to check the fit of one of the racing birds’ tack. “No. I didn’t ask for your help.”

Nodine knew that wasn’t the case at all. It couldn’t possibly. Rona would never have come all the way out here just to tell Nodine about the King’s death. Not if she had such an important mission as getting the pod to Neem. “Really?” she asked in a knowing tone, turning to face Rona again, “Because it sounds like you could use a rider with my…”

“Ability to absorb punches?” the General interrupted, holding out one hand. “The situation’s desperate. Let’s not make it hopeless.”

“All right,” Nodine said with a shrug before putting her hands on her hips, “well, who’s with you? Who’s riding point?”

Rona opened her mouth to come up with some kind of answer. She didn’t actually want to reveal that the ones riding with her were a slug, a snail, and a shrunken Stomper boy. Just then whatever she might have told the girl flew out the proverbial window as they could hear laughter coming from outside. Rona turned to look as Nodine leaned to one side to peer past the older woman’s shoulder. Rona’s hummingbird hopped into view with three riders on its back. Maude, BJ, and Grubby.

As the bird came to a stop, BJ lost his balance between the slug and snail. He slipped over the far side of the little bird and ended up hanging upside down under it. It was at that very moment the three noticed their audience. BJ’s eyes widened and Maude gave a soft, “Uh-oh.”

The General and Nodine just stared at the scene for a moment. Rona, with a raised eyebrow, and the girl, with a look of disbelief. If this was what Rona had with her, things were worse than Nodine had realized. Especially since Rona had just said that _Nodine_ would make things hopeless. The pair spoke at exactly the same time.

“Get your saddle.” Came from Rona while Nodine said, “I’ll get my saddle.”

All BJ could do was give a very embarrassed and nervous chuckle.

*~*~*~*


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel made her way back to the house, going over the notes she had made. She was giddy over her latest discoveries and muttering excitedly to herself, her words going a mile a minute. “I mean this doesn’t make any sense – I mean it makes sense but…” She giggled and ran up the front steps, throwing open the door. The Professor was completely thrilled to have something new for her research that she could share with her son. She walked right by BJ’s abandoned suitcase sitting at the foot of the font steps without even seeing it. “Benny James! Benny James, you are _not_ going to believe these readings, they are off the charts!”

As she made the announcement, Rachel pulled off her headset and set it down on a chair next to the door. She headed into the kitchen, unzipping her vest and hanging it on a hook as she continued talking. “I had the wind, and the rain and lightning! And the birds were _flying_! In a _storm_! Okay, and that’s not normal. Which proves – which-which _would_ prove…” She set her notebook on the kitchen table as she opened the fridge and started gathering various things to make sandwiches. Rachel didn’t notice that she had not gotten any response from or indication that BJ was even there.

“Actually, you know what? I’m going to make some lunch and I’ll tell you all about it!” She dumped everything onto the table. Suddenly she could hear Mollie barking outside the back kitchen door. She went over and opened it, a loaf of bread still under one arm.

The pug had been busy ramming her way head-first through the solid door. “Mollie, what are you doing outside?” Rachel asked the dog, completely used to having such conversations. “Did you see it too? Tell me you saw it.”

Mollie, being only a dog, wagged her little curled tail and darted in between Rachel’s feet. The pug ran through the house, running into a wall as she headed for the computer room. The Professor followed her without really realizing what she was doing. She had suddenly noticed the absence of BJ. “Hey, Benny Ja – or, no, BJ!” she called, giving a little embarrassed laugh at having forgotten her son’s preferred name. “BJ, what did you want to talk about?” She looked around, setting her free hand on her hip. Then she saw Mollie jump up on the office chair.

“What? What is it, Mollie?” Rachel walked over as Mollie looked at one of the monitors then back at her. The Professor frowned a little in confusion as she saw the folded note taped to the screen. She reached out and pulled it off. As she read it, Rachel felt her heart sink.

It was happening all over again. Just like it had with BJ’s father.

*~*~*~*

BJ found himself in a rather awkward situation. Flying through the forest, on the back of a sparrow, riding behind a girl about his own age. That didn’t even touch on the fact that he was only two inches tall and had somehow gotten involved in something that he had no connection to at all. He couldn’t really figure out why Rona had insisted that this girl accompany them. He knew that the General had said they needed another bird, but couldn’t they have found one of the other warriors? To make matters worse, the girl kept turning around to look at him instead of concentrating on where they were going!

Nodine looked back at the guy riding behind her and gave a grin. He was clinging to the back of the saddle with one hand while hanging onto the pod with the other. Since Rona hadn’t bothered to introduce them, she decided to do so herself. “Hey, I’m Nodine, by the way.”

“Hi. BJ. Yeah. Could you just face the way the bird’s driving?” he answered rather nervously. The last thing BJ wanted was to end up with the bird crashing because of Nodine’s inattention. The girl just smiled and reached down to pat the sparrow’s neck.

“Nah, don’t worry. He practically flies himself.” She reassured him, turning forward again.

He couldn’t really feel any comfort by that. BJ had never ridden anything alive before, much less a bird. “Great, because this whole bird-riding thing’s new to me and, uh…”

Nodine could hardly believe what she had just heard. How could this guy have not ridden a bird before? Nearly all Jinn she knew at some point had. She turned in the saddle again to look at him. “Are you serious? Oh, we have to fix that. Here, put your arms around me.”

As she leaned forward again, BJ gave her a strange look. Putting his arms around a girl he didn’t even know just seemed wrong. And incredibly rude. It didn’t help that she was a little shorter than he was too. He also had no idea what Nodine could mean by what she had just said. “Uh, I just met you.” he told her.

“Okay, but you’re gonna want to hold onto something.” She replied with a giggle. Without any further warning, Nodine pulled sideways on the reins. The sparrow responded by rolling over into a spiralling dive. BJ actually cried out in fear as they dropped. He wrapped his free arm around her waist, positive that this girl was crazy.

“What is WRONG with you?” he demanded, breathing heavily as they rose back up to the level they had been flying at before.

Nodine laughed at the fright she had given him. That had been way too much fun. “Do you know how hard it is to do that _without_ falling?” she asked, amused.

BJ glared at the back of her head. “I do NOW!” he said angrily. But before Nodine could reply Rona flew up beside them on her hummingbird with Maude and Grubby riding behind her. There was no look of amusement on the General’s face.

“Nodine, perch your bird.” the older woman ordered. The girl rolled her eyes and tried not to sigh. Bufa was right. Rona was a party pooper.

“Hey, I’m just trying to keep things…” she trailed off as they landed on a branch. It was at that moment she saw what was in front of them. Nodine’s hazel eyes widened. Okay, maybe her antics weren’t what had made Rona to sound annoyed. “…light.” Ahead of them was a large zone of destruction. A whole swathe of Rotted trees and plants. They looked all this over in silence for a second until BJ spoke up.

“What did that?” he asked. Looking at the dead zone gave him a very bad feeling, just like he had felt when he saw the moss dying earlier.

Rona’s voice sounded tired and sad as she answered the teen. “Mandra. Tarn’s power always kept her in check. Now, nothing can heal what she destroys.” The older woman looked over at him, nodding slightly to the pod in his arms. “Except that Pod.”

BJ tightened his hold on the little pod, frowning a little. He suddenly realized just how important this thing that he had been entrusted with was. Everything rested on its safety. The very forest itself depended on it. Just what had he gotten himself into?

They all started at the sound of cawing overhead and looked up to see a single crow flap by. It swooped down into the dead zone ahead of them. Rona frowned and her expression hardened. “We have to go around.” she told the others. With Boggans in the area, she did not want to risk them being spotted.

“What? Just for one scout?” Nodine asked in surprise, holding out at hand at the vanishing bird. She could believe that Rona was serious. That would take forever. Going around would make the trip to Neem Galuu’s twice as long.

“Ever see just _one_ Boggan?” Rona said pointedly in return as she glanced at the younger girl. That was the truth. In all her years battling them, Rona had never once come up on a single Boggan alone. They always moved in groups of three or more. And since they were certainly in search of the Royal Pod, the Boggans would be out in force. Rona’s group was too small to risk getting attacked. Especially since only two of them had any sword-knowledge that she knew of. Maude and Grubby definitely didn’t and the General was pretty sure that BJ didn’t as well, or, at least, he didn’t have any experience with fighting Boggans.

Nodine shook her head and rolled her eyes. This was ridiculous. It would be much faster to go straight through. She was sure she could get them through there without getting caught. After all, weren’t her flying skills why Rona had wanted her along in the first place? “Hold onto me.” She said softly over her shoulder, grinning slightly.

“Still barely know you.” BJ replied in confusion.

He didn’t get any more time than that to realize what Nodine had planned because the words were barely out of his mouth when she gave a shouted, “Hyah!” and sent her bird flying straight for the area of dead trees.

“Ahhh!” BJ yelled at the sudden and unexpected maneuver. He instinctively tightened his grip on Nodine’s waist to keep from being thrown off.

“Nodine, wait!” Rona cried, trying to stop the pair.

They had barely reached the very edge of the destruction when a huge flock of crows burst into the air in front of them. “Whoa!” Nodine cried, laughing as she yanked back on the reins. The sparrow stopped mid-air, flapping its wings heavily. She and BJ stared up at the massive flock of black birds as they swirled higher before spiralling back down towards them again.

Rona’s hummingbird darted in front of them and the General yelled, “Get to the ground!” She suited actions to words by sending her bird into a dive. Nodine whipped her sparrow around and followed as the crows came on fast. Both small birds swooped down, using the ferns as cover as they reached the forest floor. Rona jumped off her bird and started leading it to a hollow log just ahead of them, Maude and Grubby remaining on its back. “This way!” she called back to the two teens.

BJ and Nodine dismounted quickly, Nodine keeping a grip on the sparrow’s bridle as they ran after the General. Maude and Grubby looked up and shrieked as the crows came closer. BJ looked up and saw one swing around in a wide circle. There was a grey-skinned creature on its back. A creature that dew back on a bow and was aiming an arrow right at them. Nodine looked up as well, seeing the threat. She let go of her bird, spun around to grab BJ’s arm, and pulled him out of the way.

“Other way!” she yelled as she sent them tumbling into a hole that had been just to their left. The two teens rolled and bounced a little in the fall to end up landing in a cloud of dusty dirt. Nodine landed on her back while BJ ended up flat on his face still holding onto the pod.

He looked up in time to see the crow swoop by the opening to the hole and disappear. “What _was_ that thing?” he demanded, turning to look at Nodine. He could not help the fear in his voice.

Nodine sat up, brushing her ponytail back from her face. She gave him an odd look. “What? You’ve never seen a Boggan? Someone had a happy childhood.” She shook her head and stood up. She turned away from BJ and, as she looked up at the hole above them, she tightened the straps of the baldric that held her sword to her back. “Come on, let’s regroup.”

“You mean up there with those things? They almost killed us!” BJ retorted as he stood up, backing further into the hole. Going back up was the very last thing he wanted to do. Dying was not anywhere on the list of things he wanted to have happen to him right now.

Nodine continued to brush dirt from her grey-green shirt and pants. She wasn’t really paying much attention to BJ’s complaints. She turned back around and when she looked back at him, she suddenly realized exactly where they were. She froze, eyes wide. This was bad. This was absolutely _not_ good at _all_. “Don’t turn around.” She said softly.

BJ froze as well, clutching the pod. Whatever had startled the girl must be even worse than the Boggans chasing them, he was sure. “Is it a boogie?” he whispered.

“Walk towards me slowly.” Nodine answered, taking a slow backwards step as well. She had to get them both out of here before the owner of this hole appeared. Instead of doing as she asked, however, BJ swallowed and slowly turned around. Nodine couldn’t believe it, she had just _said_ to not turn around!

In the tunnel behind BJ a pair of glowing red eyes appeared. And they were coming closer. BJ inhaled sharply, holding onto the pod protectively. His fears seemed to be unfounded though as the red eyes revealed to be belonging to a little grey field mouse. It sniffed the air, wiggling its nose. The teen felt relief wash through him and he relaxed instantly.

“Oh, it’s a mouse.” he said in relief. He didn’t even wonder why Nodine had been so worried in the first place. BJ walked towards it, grinning as it shuffled around behind him, sniffing at him. “Hi mousie. I was gonna scare it away.”

Nodine stared in disbelief. He was cooing at it. BJ was _cooing_ at a _mouse_! Was this guy crazy?! “What are you DOING?” she asked in a horrified whisper, having expected a completely different reaction out of him. Pretty much all Jinn she knew were terrified of mice. Everyone knew you didn’t just go up to one and start petting it.

BJ didn’t hear her demanded question as he went down to one knee. He reached out to pet the mouse’s nose as he said, chuckling, “Look at its little hands and its little whiskers.” Just as his hand brushed said whiskers, the mouse shook its head and reared up on its back legs, revealing just how huge it really was. BJ’s mouth dropped open as the animal towered over him. The sounds it started making, which sounded like squeaks at his normal size, sounded more like vicious snarls.

“Ahh!” he cried, ducking as it jumped over his head. He ran, making a beeline straight for Nodine. She grabbed his arm to help pull him along as they ran for the entrance. Within the few strides they reached it. Nodine dropped her grip on BJ and jumped, making the soaring leap needed to get out of the hole. She landed in a crouch and looked back, surprised to not see the other teen right behind her. She immediately leaned over the lip of the hole again.

BJ was still below and had come to a stop right below her. “Hello! Other person!” he reminded her as if that should be obvious.

“Jump!” she answered just as obviously.

The boy looked up at her aghast. He could not believe she was serious. He wasn’t one of these people so he was pretty sure he couldn’t do some of the same things they did. “I can’t jump that high!” Just as he said that, he spotted the mouse charging him out of the corner of his eyes. He couldn’t help but scream, clutching the pod tight. Right before it reached him BJ closed his eyes and made the jump. He ended up flying higher than he had ever done in his life. He was so surprised that he didn’t even think about the fact that he landed right back in the mouse-hole.

“Did you see what I just did?” he said, looking rather proudly up as Nodine with an amazed laugh.

She was a little less than impressed since she had seen very young Jinn children manage about the same. “OUT! Jump out!” she reminded him.

He glanced over his shoulder at the mouse as it charged him again. He smirked, hoping to perhaps impress Nodine this time around. He waited for the last second before jumping out of the way of the mouse again. Unfortunately BJ hadn’t taken into consideration some very important advice. Look before you leap. He ended up headed head first straight into an over-hanging root. The boy groaned as he connected with it and saw stars as he was knocked out.

“Oh, great.” Nodine muttered as the other teen landed flat on his back right in front of the mouse. Now she was going to have to rescue him. With a sigh, she jumped back in the hole, landing on her toes just beyond the mouse’s nose. She immediately jumped to the side and waved her arms at it. “Hey, over here! Over here!”

The mouse turned away from where BJ lay and started coming after Nodine. She turned and ran across the hole as fast as she could. When she reached the far wall, with the mouse still right on her tail, Nodine ran up the wall a few steps then pushed off. She flipped over the mouse’s head. It was a perfectly graceful move except she failed on the landing. Instead of her feet, Nodine hit the ground on her face. The mouse, having lost sight of and interest in her, turned back to the unconscious boy.

“Whoa! Whoa!” Nodine cried, grabbing onto the mouse’s tail and digging her heels into the dirt. She managed to stop it just before it could reach BJ.

“Fuzzy mousie…” she heard him mutter sleepily.

Frustrated with the weight on its tail, the mouse flipped it over its head. Nodine ended up moving with it since she had not released her grip. She gave a nervous laugh as she came face to nose with the terrifying creature. “N-nice tail. It’s flexible.” the girl told it, hoping to not make it any angrier. The compliments didn’t work though. The mouse flipped her back again and she hit the ground with a thud, letting go of the tail.

Nodine rolled over and, seeing the mouse advance on her, scrambled backwards on her hands. “Help!” she shrieked, cowering away from it. As if in perfect answer to that shriek, Rona appeared. The General landed next to the mouse with her sword drawn. In an instant the mouse was gone, running back down its tunnel squeaking in fear and rubbing its face.

“They have very sensitive whiskers.” she said, standing up and sheathing her sword as one said whisker floated down between her and Nodine.

The girl glanced back in the direction that the mouse had fled for a second and then looked up at Rona. “You know, I _had_ this.” Nodine said, pointing at the older woman as she sat up. Rona just gave her a very unbelieving look.

“Uh-huh.” she commented before turning towards BJ to ask, “Are you all right?”

BJ had started to come around again. He rubbed his face with his left hand since the right was still wrapped around the pod. Finally he sat up on his elbows and said, “Mom? I just had the most messed-up dream. There were talking slugs and tiny little soldier girls and…” His words trailed off as he glanced in the direction of the other two, did a double-take, and gasped.

Instead of his mother, he saw Rona and Nodine standing over him with Maude and Grubby visible high above at the entrance to the mouse-hole. Rona’s expression was calm, but Nodine’s was more like she was questioning his sanity. “Hello!” Grubby called down cheerfully.

BJ closed his green eyes and dropped his head back with a groan, “Aw, man.”

Rona straightened and glanced around as she spoke, “Now let’s move. Where there are mice, there are bound to be…” She paused for effect, looking back at Nodine with a tiny smirk. “…chipmunks.” Hearing that word, Maude and Grubby clutched each other with fearful squeaks. Nodine tried not to flinch too, giving Rona a grin back. To a Jinn, the only thing worse than a mouse was a chipmunk. She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as Rona continued, “New seating arrangement.”

The General gave a three sharp whistles and her hummingbird fluttered down into the hole with them with Maude and Grubby on its back. Rona stepped over to BJ and held out her hand. “You’re riding with me.” she said as she hauled the teen to his feet.

“Thank you.” he replied in relief.

As they passed Nodine on the way to Rona’s bird, the older woman turned her head to the girl. “You’re with the slugs.” she told her with a very surprising amount of smugness in her voice. If Nodine didn’t know better, she could have sworn that the General was laughing at her expense.

“Ugh! Disgusting.” Nodine muttered as she followed them. Sudden she was stopped by a pair of eyestalks right in her face. The slug Maude was right in front of her glaring. Nodine nearly jumped out of her skin and took a step back.

“Do you and me have a problem?” the slug asked in a very pointed manner.

The teen blinked. “Uh…. I don’t think so.” she answered as Maude circled around her. The slug seemed to be pumping herself up for a fight. Or trying to act intimidating.

“What was that over there? A little chit-chat? That’s real cute. You trying to jump in.” Maude said, still glaring at Nodine. The girl’s eyebrows went up with each word that came out of the slug’s mouth. Was she actually implying what Nodine thought she was?

Really hoping she was wrong, she asked, “What are… What are we talking about?”

Maude’s expression changed from a glare to a look of disbelief. She couldn’t believe that this girl could actually be so dense. She moved back in front of Nodine. “There’s a code, you know. It goes something like this; I saw him first.”

Apparently she was implying that. Nodine glanced over Maude’s head to see BJ attempt to jump onto Rona’s hummingbird. It was a miserable effort. He ended up on the bird’s head. The hummingbird tilted its head down, dumping the boy face-first on the ground. “Ow!” he yelped as, just to add insult to injury, the little bird poked him in the rump with its long beak.

Quickly Nodine looked back at Maude. “You’re a slug.” she told her. Surely, by spelling it out for the slug, she could get her to see that whatever Maude thought could go on between her and BJ was impossible. But Maude was not that easily dissuaded.

“So? You think he’d want you? Look at yourself. Oh! That’s right you can’t…” As she spoke stretched her eyestalks into Nodine’s face for a second before sucking them back into her head. She blinked, squeezing her face around her eyes. “Because your eyeballs are stuck all the way inside your head. What’s wrong flat-face? Are you gonna cry? Do you want me to call your flat-face daddy?”

“You realise you aren’t insulting me, right? You’re just grossing me out.” Nodine said, leaning back as Maude’s eyestalks stretched out into her face a third time. She squinted as the slug moved closer.

Maude’s expression became very threatening. “You’ve been warned.” she told the teen menacingly and, as a final act, smacked Nodine with one of her eyestalks.

Nodine’s head whipped back from the blow and she yelped in surprise. “OW!” She clapped a hand over her left eye and then rubbed it with a disgusted noise. Great. Just great. She could already tell that the rest of this trip was going to be oh so much fun. Not!

*~*~*~*

A large birch tree fell as the swarm of Boggans spread out. Each one was swinging their club or spear and each time a weapon touched any bit of green, a plant would instantly die. On a Rotted tree stump overlooking her army, Mandra stood with her Rot-staff in one hand.  She watched the growing destruction of the forest, pleased with the progress.

Behind her came the Toad and Mosquito Boggan guards with Bufa between them. “Hey, if this is a bad time, I can come back when you’re done _gardening_.” the frog said, taking all this a little too lightly. Behind her, the Mosquito Boggan was repeatedly poking her with its spear. This wasn’t getting much reaction from the frog so the Toad Boggan picked up its partner and used it like a spear, jabbing Bufa with the point of the Mosquito Boggan’s hummingbird skull helmet. Bufa jumped forward and shot a dark look back at the pair. The Toad Boggan just smirked and set its partner down by sticking it spear-like into the wood of the stump.

Mandra slowly turned around to look at the frog. “I imagine you’re wondering why I invited you here.” she told her, a cruel smile playing on her face.

“I was frog-marched here at spear-point.” Bufa replied. The Mosquito Boggan pulled its skull helmet free, turned and jabbed Bufa with its spear again. The frog jumped again with a cry. “Ah! How’s that invited?” She dusted off the lapels of her coat as she looked up at Mandra.

“I let you keep your legs.” The Boggan Queen answered, her cruel smile widening a trifle.

Bufa gave an annoyed laugh. “Comedy. Terrific.” As Mandra walked around behind her, the frog grumbled softly, “Funny psychopath.”

The Boggan Queen ignored this. She was more interested in getting information out of this frog. That was why she had had Bufa brought. She put an arm around the frog’s shoulders, drawing her to the edge of the stump. “There are rumours the Leafwoman Rona was at your place of business and that she may have rescued a Royal Pod.” Bufa leaned against an upraised section of wood and laughed.

“Real smooth. You get rid of the King, but let his Pod get away. Plus your idiot General gets herself mulched.” Bufa laughed again, turning to look out at the rancid view. She didn’t notice Mandra’s grip on her Rot-staff tighten at mention of her dead daughter.

“That _idiot General_ was my DAUGHTER!” The Boggan Queen snarled, jumping down from the stump with her staff held high over her head. When she landed, she slammed the end of it into the ground. A thick stream of Rot raced out from the impact and across the ground. It took over a massive maple tree. The tree practically exploded with Rot and fell over.

Bufa’s face drained of colour as she gasped. She stepped back from the edge then saw the Mosquito Boggan beside her. It grinned and snapped is spear in half to indicate what could very well happen to the frog. Bufa gulped and tried to back away from it only run into Mandra who was suddenly standing behind her.

The frog jumped and backed away now from the Queen, “O-of course, she was.” she stammered as Mandra loomed over her. She was desperate to save herself.  “She had your gorgeous looks. And health grey complexion. And forgiving nature.”

“Shut up!” Mandra ordered. She held her Rot-staff close to Bufa’s face as the frog whimpered piteously. “What’s it going to be, Bufa? Are you going to talk? Or are you going to croak?” She leaned in close to ask her final question.

“Where are they taking the Pod?”

*~*~*~*

Hidden high in an oak tree, Rona peered out at the surrounding forest. She was alert for any sign of danger. BJ tried to see what she might be looking for from his place behind her saddle on the hummingbird. Next to them, Grubby was stretched out over the head of Nodine’s sparrow and doing the same. Nodine sat behind the snail, hunched awkwardly due to Maude draping herself over her back.

“It’s clear.” Rona confirmed in a whisper. With a soft “hyah”, she sent her bird into the air, leading the way to the next tree, Nodine following.

As she came into to land at the next branch, Nodine grunted as the change in forward momentum caused Maude to shove her into Grubby’s back. The girl was just barely able to keep from getting her teeth knocked out on Grubby’s shell. Frustrated and serious annoyed, she jabbed her elbow back into the slug, trying to get her to move back.

The quiet commotion caught BJ’s attention and he looked over at the three. “Why is she even with us? She’s not helping.” he asked Rona softly.

The teen’s comment distracted Rona for a moment from her scanning for danger and she glanced over at the group too. “Well,” she said, not really sure how to explain her reasons to him, “when she’s not being an idiot, she’s a pretty decent flyer. Could be one of the best.” As she spoke, they watched Nodine get out of the saddle and shove Grubby back so that the snail would ride behind her. Unfortunately for her, Maude fell off the sparrow’s tail. Nodine groaned, positive that the slug had done that on purpose. Rona went back to scanning the forest.

There was one more rather important fact and for some reason, Rona felt she had to share it with the boy. “Plus her mother was my friend, so I do what I can. Many Leaves, One Tree.”

BJ glanced between the General and the girl, a little surprised at the revelation that these two women had a personal connection. Then Rona’s last words caught his attention. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, looking up at the tree branches overhead.

“We’re all individuals, but we’re still connected.” Rona told him, explaining the Leafman motto. “It’s what we live by.” BJ looked back at Rona as she sent her hummingbird onward. He thought about that for a moment and then frowned a little.

“Maybe you’re connected, but I’m kind of on my own.” he said, thinking about the relationship, or rather lack of one he had with his mother. With his dad now dead, she was all BJ had and yet, the two of them couldn’t even manage to spend one day together without drifting apart.

Rona could sense a lot behind the teenage boy’s words. In a way, she though he might just be trying too hard to _be_ alone. Much like Nodine was. “No one’s on their own.” she said as they came in to land on another branch. Rona looked over at the younger girl as the sparrow landed next to them. “Not even her.”

This time, Nodine ended up planting her face into Maude’s backside. For some reason she was sure that Grubby had gone into cahoots with the slug. She pretty much had to peel herself off to sit up again. Maude just had to rub it in by giving a little wiggle and saying, “Hey, Nodine, how’s the view?” The girl just tried to lean as far away from the slug as possible. BJ couldn’t help but snicker at the scene as Rona took off again.

As they flew the final leg of their journey, Nodine decided that she couldn’t wait for this to all be over. It had taken far too long, just like she knew it would. Plus being squished between the slug and snail was a horrible experience. At last they reached the tree of Neem Galuu, scroll-keeper of the forest.

“Well, here we are.” Rona said as they all dismounted. Nodine came around Rona’s bird to stand on the opposite side of BJ from the General. Maude and Grubby came up behind them.

“I thought this was a secret Leafwoman mission.” Grubby asked as they looked out at the huge crowd of Jinn gathering. “How many people did the King tell about this?”

Rona shook her head and replied, “They’re here looking for answers. Nobody knows that the King is gone, only that the Blight is spreading.” As a group, they joined the growing crowd as it filtered into the tree.

BJ held the pod against his chest as he looked at Rona. “So, this Neem lady can tell them?” he asked.

“She’s the keeper of our history, but even she may not know about the King. She’s not always up to speed.” As she said that last part she shared glance with Nodine, who grinned slightly. Oh, yes there had been many times when Neem was actually the last to know about something. BJ frowned a little and looked to Nodine.

“But she’ll help, right? She’s, like, the Wise Old Lady of the forest.” he said.

Nodine lifted her shoulders a little as she answered. “Eh, she’s more like the crazy aunt.”

The chatter of the crowd got louder as they entered the tree. Enough so that they could make out different conversations. As they passed a Thistle Jinn talking to a Pinecone Jinn, they heard one say, “The whole meadow just died. Everything was green and now just gone.”

The other replied saying, “I grew up in that meadow.”

Another Jinn could be heard asking, “Why isn’t the King _doing_ anything?”

“If anything happened to him, everything’s going to Rot! We’re doomed! We’re doomed!” cried a rather hysterical Dandelion Jinn. A blue Daisy Jinn took the other’s shoulders and shook them.

“Get a hold of yourself! Oops. Sorry.” The Daisy Jinn looked up to see that the Dandelion Jinn’s fuzz had been shaken loose.

Rona, BJ, and Nodine made their way deeper into the crowd. Just before they reached the stage area, a loud female voice rang out. The lights around the room went out, leaving a single shaft of sunlight shinning down on the stage. The crowd went silent as there was a blare of music. “Friends! Neighbours! Prepare to see your worries…” From the center of the stage rose a delicate white basket. Inside was a large female caterpillar in a brightly coloured robe. A small moth flew down and landed on one of her six arms. Neem used slight-of-hand to dramatically make the moth vanish as she declared, “…disappear.”

Nearly whole crowd gasped in awe, including Maude and Grubby. Rona gave a silent annoyed sigh. Wonderful. Neem was about to go into one of her shows. This was not what they needed. What they needed to do was speak to Neem privately. Rona knew that they needed to figure out what had to be done about the pod so that there wouldn’t be panic.

“I know that rumours have been flying!” Next Neem seemed to pull more moths out of her sleeve, sending them into the air. The basket rose up out of the way as the caterpillar circled around the hole it had come out of. “But the truth is never as bad as it seems. I have just returned from deep inside this tree, from the Rings of Knowledge.”

More moths zipped up out of the hole and spread out like fireworks. Neem leaned over the hole and ‘magically’ lifted a scroll. “Where every memory, every event that ever happens in the forest is recorded in these scrolls.” At that cue, music blared again from the band and Neem broke into song.

“ _Listen, party poopers, I’ve got something to say._

_Dry your weeping eyes; we’re going to be okay._

_So you don’t have to worry about a dog-gone thing._

_The Rings of Knowledge know everything!_ ”

Neem spun in a circle, letting the scroll in one of her hands unroll around her. When the scroll fell to the floor, the caterpillar was gone. In her place stood Maude and Grubby, who were shocked to find themselves onstage. As Neem appeared in the crowd juggling more scrolls, the slug and snail began to dance as well.

“ _The scrolls never lie and, honey, neither does Neem._

_It’s right here in my hands, all six of ‘em._ ”

She twirled the scrolls in all six arms as the crowd lifted her up and carried her back to the stage. She continued to dance around the stage until she unrolled a specific scroll just as she reached the end of the song.

“ _So tuck your little fears and put them right in the bed._

_It says right here that the King is --_ ”

Neem stopped singing as she read the relevant part of the scroll. A sudden look of shock appeared on her face as she stammered, “Th-that the King is… uh. What I mean, uh…” She looked up from the scroll to see the crowd looking at her, still expecting her to reveal the news about the King. Since they were all desperate for good news many started calling out.

“What?”

“Tell us what it says.”

“What’s it say?!”

“She doesn’t know anything!”

“Fraud!”

Neem scrambled for anything, opening scroll after scroll as the crowd started to boo her. In desperation she turned to the band, making circling motions with two of her hands to indicate they should just keep rolling as she backed offstage.

The back-up singers looked at each other with worried expressions, but gamely broke back into the song’s chorus.

“ _D-dry your weeping eyes, we’re going to be fine._

_Everything is really going to be all right…_ ”

Neem retreated backstage away from the angry crowd and when she turned around she nearly ran into Rona. Standing next to the General were BJ and Nodine. They had come backstage when Neem started her song and dance. The caterpillar jumped back with a gasp. “Rona! Did you hear about the King? This is terrible!”

“I know, but…” Rona started to say only to be interrupted but Neem who began pacing.

“We gotta do something! We gotta keep everyone from freaking out!” Actually Neem was doing a pretty good job of freaking out already.

The General, trying to calm the caterpillar down, gestured back at the pod in BJ’s arms and said, “Yes, that’s why we…”

Again Neem interrupted, hardly even listening to what the woman was trying to say due to her own panic. “And the Pod! We gotta make sure the Royal Pod is safely hidden far away. And…” It was that moment that she finally noticed that the pod was there and she reared back with a little shriek. “Whaddya bring it here for!?”

BJ carefully held out the pod to Neem. “The King’s last words were _Bring the Pod to Neem Galuu_.”

“Did he say anything else? Specific instructions?” The caterpillar asked as she took it with her first set of arms and looked closely at it. She spread her second arms as she added, “Maybe a note?” BJ gave her an unbelieving look.

“Those were his _last words_.” he said pointedly. “I thought you were magic.”

Neem looked away and rubbed the back of her neck with one of her six hands. Then she grinned sheepishly back at the teen. “Magic may be stretching it. I’m charismatic. Possible charming.”

BJ reached out, worried that the pod wasn’t safe at all in the caterpillar’s hands. “Do you know what to do with the Pod or not?” he demanded.

“Not a clue.” Neem said cheerfully as she examined the pod again. “But I do know where to look it up. Follow me!” With that, Neem turned and headed back out onstage before she realized where she was going. The waiting crowd spotted her coming back and started booing and shouting.

“There she is! Phony!”

Neem froze for a second and whirled around again, quickly walking in the other direction. “Uh, no, it’s this way.” she said the three watching her. Nodine, BJ and Rona watched her make her way further backstage. BJ shot Rona a look as they went to follow.

*~*~*~*


	5. Chapter 5

“The Rings of Knowledge!” Grubby said in awe as the group rode down through the tree in the white cage. She and Maude had joined up with the rest a short while later. “Is everything that happens really recorded right here?”

Neem looked down benevolently down at the snail. “Oh yeah.”

“And you’ve read all these scrolls?” BJ asked as he looked around. He was quite impressed. The Rings of Knowledge proved to be hundreds of thousands of scrolls stored all throughout the rings of Neem’s tree. The whole of it being tended by many tiny moths. They were passing down through several floors.

“Eh, I’ve skimmed them.” Neem told him, grinning a little.

Grubby looked around and then back at Neem, excitement in her expression. “Is this event being recorded? Right now?” The idea that the events that they were involved in were being recorded for posterity absolutely thrilled her.

Neem looked back down at Grubby again, amused by the snail’s excitement. “Of course.” She said. Little did she know what that reassurance would unleash.

“Is this?” Grubby sucked her shell up her back until it was perched right on top of her head. She grinned from under the rim.

“Yes.” the caterpillar answered.

Maude decided to get in on this as well. “What about this?” the slug asked, retracting her eyestalks back into her head so far that they popped into her mouth. She rolled her eyes around her mouth like Baoding balls for a few seconds before popping them back out to their proper place. She finished off the bizarre move with a giggle.

“Yes…” Neem repeated, obviously wondering what else these two might come up with.

Unfortunately for all of them, Maude and Grubby weren’t finished yet. They shared a glanced and asked in unison, “What about this?” At the same time they started bouncing their eyestalks back and forth. The other four watched with varying degrees of stunned silence as the lift reached to very bottom level. By this time the two were bouncing their eyestalks like a strange Newton’s cradle.

Neem stepped off first; just thankful that was all over with. “Yup. That should be it right here. Thanks, Marla.” She took a scroll from a passing moth. Maude and Grubby looked at it with glee that ended up being very short lived. Neem immediately tore the scroll into tiny pieces.

Nodine almost burst into laughter at the slug’s and snail’s disappointed “Aww…”

“Okay. Blooming a Pod.” Neem mused as she began searching through a series of the tiny holes the scrolls were kept in. She lifted a few out for a second each before shoving them back into their respective places. “Gotta to go way back for that. Here we go. Let’s see.” She finally pulled out the right scroll and unrolled it, peering at the writing closely. “Pod, care of. Must keep moist.”

At those words, Maude and Grubby shot Rona pointed looks. The General just shook her head and rolled her eyes. Okay, so they have been correct after all. Neem continued on, not paying attention to the little by-play. “Well, good news is, once the King chooses it, it’s going to bloom no matter what. But it has to open tonight, in the light of the full moon when it’s at its highest peak.”

Nodine stood next to BJ with her hands on her hips as they listened. Rona frowned a little, one hand resting on her sword. This was certainly more information than they had before. The caterpillar’s expression turned pleased as she read further. “Yep, Solstice, full moon, highest peak, mentions it a bunch of times.”

“What happens if it blooms out of the moonlight?” Grubby asked suddenly.

“Unclear.” Neem answered, checking through the scroll. Finally she reached the end and held it up to show off the tattered end. “The last part’s missing. I’ve gotta be honest, termites have been a problem.” She didn’t seem worried about the missing part though. She grinned and held up her four upper arms as the last two rolled up the scroll again. “So here I thought we were doomed. This calls for a celebration!”

“I suppose  _we’ve_ earned it.” Maude said smugly as she and Grubby headed back to the lift.

Rona and Nodine followed them, but just as BJ was about to as well, he stopped and turned back to Neem. “Wait,” he said to her, keeping his tone soft so that the others wouldn’t overhear. “This is going to sound weird, but I’m not from this world. And I thought that something in these scrolls could tell me if there’s a way for me to get home.” He ended on a hopeful note, looking around at the hundreds of other scrolls in the room.

Neem touched the fingertips of her four upper arms together lightly, the last set still holding the pod. “The scrolls don’t tell the future, they only guide us with the knowledge of the past.” For a moment, the caterpillar sound very wise indeed. The moment passed, however, with her next words. “Hey, that’s a great line! You girls got that, right?” She glanced around at the moths fluttering about.

“So you can’t help me?” BJ asked in disappointment. Neem smiled and flipped up another scroll which she held out to him.

“I didn’t say that.” She said as she offered it.

BJ took the scroll by the edges and let it unroll. He peered closely at the faint marks on it, unable to make heads or tails of these people’s writings. “I can’t read this.”

The caterpillar just waved a hand at him. “It’s just dusty. Blow it off.” she reassured him.

The teen looked skeptical for a moment, but did as she said. He turned away from her and blew gently on the scroll. To his complete surprise the minute dust particles that came off it swirled up around him, transforming the room. BJ found himself standing surrounded by plants made up of glowing green motes of light. He looked around for a moment and then spotted the figure of King Tarn lying on the ground in front of him.

“It’s you. But I saw you turn into moss…” he said softly in confusion.

“Come closer.” Tarn said. The King’s voice was strange. It sounded hollow like the man was speaking from the bottom of a very deep well.

BJ sighed in relief and stepped forward. “This is perfect! You can make me big again.”

"Closer.” The king repeated. BJ took another step only to jump in surprise as there was a strange thud and two giant hands came down right next to him. He spun around and looked up into a huge image of himself on his knees staring down at them.

Slowly he turned around again, realizing that all this wasn’t actually real. “It’s a memory.” He murmured, looking back down at the dead King’s image.

Tarn smiled a little, looking up at the giant BJ. “If you can hear me now, it means you got to Neem’s. The Pod needs you. I can’t be around for it anymore.” The King then lifted the pod in his arms to his lips. BJ could see now a golden swirl of light transfer from the dying man and into the pod. It then lifted up into the air and flew towards the giant image of himself.

As the image caught the pod, BJ cried out, “No, don’t do that! Why would you give that to me? You don’t understand; I have to get home, this has nothing to do with me.” He fell silent at Tarn’s next words.

“You’re here for a reason. Maybe you don’t see the connections yet. But just because you don’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there. I know you’re scared, just stay with the Pod. Be with it when it blooms and then, you’ll get back what you’ve given. You’ll get back…” Tarn’s hollow voice trailed off as the scene dissolved around BJ, fading back to the room in the Rings of Knowledge. The teen slowly backed up as the motes of light went dark and vanished, until he bumped right into Neem.

The caterpillar blinked in stunned surprise, then looked around at the other scrolls in the room. “Well, that was intense. I gotta read more of these.” BJ’s face broke out in a relieved smile. At the very least he had the answer to how he was going to return to normal again.

“That means I can get home!” he told her. Neem tilted her head at him as she started for the way out of the Rings.

“Well, if you want to get home so bad, then why did you leave?” she asked as she walked away. BJ watched her go, furrowing his brows as he thought about the caterpillar’s words.

*~*~*~*

The waiting crowd of Jinn chattered behind her as Nodine walked over to where Rona was. The General stood in one of the smaller entrances to Neem’s tree and was watching the outside carefully, her sword loose in its sheath. She looked like she expected a Boggan attack at any second.

“Lose the sword, Rona.” The younger girl said, trying to get the General to relax a little. After all, all work and no play made for a dull life. “We’re done.”

Rona looked at her and slide her sword home again before stepping away from the opening. “We’re not done until the Pod blooms. We’re taking it home to Moonhaven. I need you to watch it while I tell the rest of the Leafmen to expect us.”

Nodine shook her head and set her hands on her hips. “Hey, I helped you get here, but I haven’t changed my mind.” she reminded the older woman. Rona stepped closer to her and gave Nodine an odd unreadable look.

“You think that just because you’re not a Leafwoman anymore, you’re not a part of this?” she asked, gesturing out into the room where Neem was holding forth. “Well, the fate of that Pod affects all of us.” Nodine turned to look behind her.

“The King is gone.” Neem called out and the crowd gave a collective gasp at that pronouncement. The caterpillar quickly continued, holding the pod aloft so that everyone could see it. “But, as always, he looked out for us even in his final moments. Tonight when this Pod blooms, a new King will rise! I know you’re sad. I am, too. But Tarn wouldn’t want us to mourn! He’d want us to celebrate his life! And the Life of the Forest!”

At such encouraging words, the crowd’s mood changed from sadness to joy again. Jinn cheered and a few called out “To King Tarn!” Neem then turned and handed the pod off the Maude who was standing next to the caterpillar.

“So stay with it. And don’t  _lose_ the sword.” Rona ordered as she walked away.

Nodine groaned and rolled her eyes. Wonderful. This wasn’t what she’d rather be doing when there was a party about to go on. She made a face at Rona’s retreating back. She then jammed her right elbow back against the end of her scabbard, knocking her sword free. She pulled it with her left hand, flipped it into the air to transfer it to her right, before jabbing it into to the wood of the tree. There. Now she wouldn’t lose it. Just like Rona wanted.

Still unhappy about being put on guard duty, Nodine crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall with a sigh. As she looked out at the crowd, she spotted BJ making his way through the chattering Jinn. He noticed her, gave a little wave, and walked over. Nodine’s sour expression cleared to a smile and she stepped away from the wall.

“Look, I’m thinking that I didn’t make the best first impression.” She said a little sheepishly. She did feel a little bad about freaking him out with doing that barrel-roll earlier. Sometimes she was too much of a show-off.

BJ chuckled a little. “That’s okay. I’ve never had a girl fight a mouse for me before.” he replied, trying to not sound embarrassed by that. He had never had anyone fight anything for him before and it was very strange that it had happened. Usually it’s the guy that does the fighting.

“You’re not -- you’re not from around here, are you?” Nodine asked as she gave a little laugh.

“What makes you say that?” he asked nervously in return. He was beginning to think that Nodine hadn’t realized he wasn’t one of them. Surely Rona would have mentioned it.

The girl grinned a little. “If you were, I would remember you.” And she would have too. It would be hard to forget someone like BJ.

Just as she was about to say something else, someone out in the crowd shouted a toast. “To King Tarn!” it was answered by more shouted “To the King!” Both teens glanced towards the crowded room for a second as the noise of the party grew louder.

“Do you wanna go somewhere quieter?” the girl asked, spreading her arms a little in a slight shrug.

BJ glanced about a little before looking back at Nodine. “Will that be okay with Rona?”

She gave a half-smile and raised her left arm to gesture to where the pod was as she reassured him. “Yeah, she said to watch the Pod, but there’s nowhere safer than Neem’s tree. I think she’s just pretty upset about the King. Here, let me show you something.” Nodine grabbed BJ’s hand, pulling him towards the opening while ignoring his protests.

He barely managed to get out a startled “What?” before Nodine dove out of the tree, dragging him with her. He cried out in surprise as they fell and he was starting to think that this girl actually enjoyed doing things to freak him out. After several heart-stopping moments, they landed, on their feet, on a large broad leaf at the base of the tree. Nodine kept a hold on his arm to help steady him as the leaf slowly bounced under them.

BJ looked around as he gave a breathless laugh of impressed surprise. “Huh. That actually gets easier.” He froze as there was a low rumbling noise. Nodine looked up and smiled, seeing the most perfect thing to show him. She glanced at the other teen and saw him looking around for the source of the rumble. “What was…” BJ started to whisper as Nodine reached up and placed her fingers lightly on either side of his head, turning it in the right direction.

His mouth dropped open at the sight of the stag slowly moving through the underbrush near them. He took a step forward and gave a soft “Wow…” Nodine grinned from behind him as the deer stopped, looking in their direction, and, for reasons known only to it, came over to them. It stretched it neck out as it lowered its head down to the leaf they were standing on.

BJ had never been that close to a deer before, even at normal size. An amazed grin spread on his face as he held up his right hand to the animal’s nose. The deer’s warm breath ruffled his short red hair as it sniffed them. BJ turned his head to look back at Nodine only to find that the girl had vanished.

“Grab on.” Her voice came from above him and BJ looked up to see her hanging onto the stag’s antlers. She reached out a hand to him, still grinning.

“What?” he said, surprised again. It wasn’t the most intelligent thing to say.

Nodine laughed. “Put your arms around me.” she told him teasingly.

The boy raised an eyebrow and smirked, crossing his arms. “But I barely know you.” he teased back. Nodine just gave a little shrug, still holding out a hand to him.

“Well, do you want to ride him or not?” she asked. BJ took a second to consider the offer before taking her hand and jumping up beside her. The deer stood up then, lifting the pair high into the air as it moved off. The two teens settled side by side on one of the antlers with their feet dangling over the side. BJ actually found it kind of amazing how far away the ground looked from this perspective. He glanced at Nodine and the two of them shared a grin as the stag circled around Neem’s tree.

*~*~*~*

“The scroll said there was nothing you could do the save him, Rona. You have to know that.” Neem said as she and the General came out of another opening high in the tree. The caterpillar put a comforting hand on the silver-haired woman’s shoulder as Rona looked back at her with a weary expression. She blinked a few times, pushing back the sting of tears. Then her expression changed. Rona went from a strained and grief-stricken woman to the General that she was.

“Sent a code to the Leafmen. Tell them that the Pod is safe and we’re bringing it home.” She told the caterpillar as they stood just outside the opening. Rona put one hand on her hip as the other rested on her sword. Fireflies began to stream out of the tree over their heads.

Neem waved her arms at the little insects. “You heard her. Go tell them, girls!” she called out to them then added cheerfully, “And it’s Happy Hour at Neem’s!” The caterpillar turned towards the General as she said that part and caught the highly unamused expression on Rona’s face. She smiled sheepishly. “Or just do the first part.”

Rona just looked down and shook her head. Neem was unbelievable.

*~*~*~*

The fireflies spread out all through the forest, catching the attention of Jinn, warrior and civilian alike. Many Jinn came out from under the grasses and underbrush just to look up at the flickering insects. Leafmen and women looked up from their duties whether it was patrolling, watering their hummingbirds, or standing watch. Even Fione did as she sat on her bird’s back at the top of a tree.

As the redheaded Leafwoman watched the fireflies go past, she felt gloom and uncertainty, which nearly all Leafmen and women had being feeling since the King’s death, lift. Hope was renewed. Hope for the pod, for the Jinn, for the forest.

A faint smile curled her lips.

*~*~*~*

Not matter how surreal this whole experience had been, BJ couldn’t help but feel a sense of contentment. This moment, riding the deer with Nodine with the flickering fireflies overhead, seemed the epitome of magic. He almost wanted to wish he could stay. Still, he knew he couldn’t.

“I’ve gotta admit, flying is nice, but this is riding in style.” The two had been silent for the last little while when BJ finally spoke up.

Nodine gave a little laugh as she looked up at the lights. Seeing them she knew their idle would have to end soon. They needed to get back before Rona caught onto the fact they had snuck out. Still, she wasn’t quite ready to end it. “Yeah. Not everyone can do it. You have to be gentle to ride a deer.” She sat up then, her expression changing to one of sad memory with her next words. “My mom taught me how. It’s one of my best memories of her.” She looked down as she clasped her fingers lightly together.

BJ looked at her and was surprised to see that particular expression on the girl’s face. Nodine always seemed so happy-go-lucky. Hearing the grief in her voice as she spoke of her mother, he suddenly felt a rush of empathy for her.  He sensed that though it was an old loss, Nodine still mourned just as much as he did for his father. Perhaps their two worlds weren’t so different after all. “You must really miss her. I know how that feels.” he said and looked away, getting lost in his own memories.

She looked back at him and saw that he too knew the loss of a beloved parent. Suddenly, Nodine realised that she actually knew very little about this boy. Nothing at all about his life, who his parents were or had been, where he lived. But she wanted to.

Maybe when this was all over.

Little did either of them know how ill-timed their absence from the tree of Neem Galuu was. As the deer continued through the brush a pair of Boggans that had been watching grinned. The two grey nasty creatures then turned towards the tree where the Royal Pod currently was.

*~*~*~*

The party was going full swing. Upbeat music played and Jinn were gathering in small groups to chat. Maude and Grubby were enjoying themselves to the hilt. Since the slug was holding onto the pod at the moment, if they weren’t the life of the party, they were close to it.

“Fruit-fly, huh?” Maude said to a tiny insect sipping out of a miniscule cup.

This caught Grubby’s attention and the snail added, “So, what’s it like, having such a sort life cycle?”

The fly buzzed its wings and answered in a child’s voice, “It’s great, miss. When I grow up…” Now the bug’s voice changed to that of an adult’s, “…I’m going to…” At that moment, one of its legs fell off, which it used at a cane. The fruit-fly’s voice changed again into an oldster’s, “…wish I had done more with my life, girly.”

With a final gasp the bug keeled over dead, one leg twitching a little.

Grubby and Maude looked at each other in shock. Slowly Grubby took off the tiny flower party hat that she and the slug were wearing, holding it respectfully against her. “The forest trembles with the passing of the humble fruit-fly.” she intoned quietly just as the tree actually began to shudder and shake.

Everyone in the room looked about in alarm. Suddenly the floor in the center cracked and splinters exploded everywhere as a huge star-nosed mole burst through. Mandra was on its back, grinning nastily as Jinn fled to the corners of the room. She smashed one of the support columns with her Rot-staff as she circled the mole around.

“Excuse me,” she called out almost cheerfully, “but I’ve lost something very  _dear_ to me. It was left by a  _friend_ who’s… no longer with us.” The mole snarled, rearing a little. The Boggan Queen turned it again and caught sight of pair with the pod. “Ah! You’ve found it.”

“If you want to take this Pod, you’re gonna to have to go through us!” Grubby said bravely as Maude cowered a little behind her, holding the pod tightly.

Mandra gave a grin that was not at all reassuring. “Relax. I’m not going to  _hurt_ it. I need it  _alive_ .”

Maude rashly spoke up from behind Grubby. “Well, we’re the only ones that know how to keep it that way.”

The Boggan Queen smirked. These two were obvious fools to just give that sort of information away. “Thanks for the tip.” She sent her mount lunging at them. Before they could react she snagged both slug and snail with one arm and the mole dove back into the hole it had emerged from.

Rona barreled through the crowd, having heard the commotion. She vaulted the rail of one of the balconies and drew her sword as she dropped down into the hole after them. She landed in a crouch, but immediately sprang to her feet to dash down the tunnel. But before she could get very far, the tunnel started to collapse right in front of her, forcing the General to stop.

She glared after the escaping Mandra, her jaw jutting a little as she gritted her teeth. Rona was absolutely furious. The look on her face was murderous. There was only one thought that crossed her mind.

Where the heck did Nodine go to leave the pod unprotected?

*~*~*~*

Nodine gasped as Rona grabbed the front of her shirt and shoved her hard against the wall. The older woman’s eyes were hard as ice as she glared at the teen. “Stay with the Pod, that’s all you had to do.” She spat out. She had never been so angry at the girl before.

“Yeah, but I just thought…” Nodine was cut off as Rona tightened her grip.

“Do you  _ever_ think about  _anyone_ besides YOURSELF?” the General snapped, getting right up in Nodine’s face. She gave the girl a few shakes to emphasis her words. Finally she let go of her shirt and stepped back as if she couldn’t stand to be touching her anymore.

BJ stepped up beside Nodine. He was a little worried that Rona might actually hurt the girl, she was so angry. Besides, she wasn’t all to blame. He was a part of this fiasco as well. “It wasn’t all her fault.” he protested only to recoil back as the General turned on him.

Rona rounded on the boy, glaring at him as well. “And YOU.” She then gestured back at Nodine as she continued bitterly, “I expect as much from her. But I thought you would know better.” She turned away from both teens, setting her hands on her hips.

“We’re really sorry, okay?” Nodine said. She truly hadn’t thought that anything bad would happen. She hadn’t meant to mess things up this badly. Before she could continue with her apology, Rona cut her off again by holding up her right hand.

“I don’t want to hear it. That was the last part of the King that I…” She stopped as her control over her voice slipped, letting some of her anguish through. Rona blinked a few times before correcting herself. “… that  _any_ of us will ever have.”

The guilt that Nodine was feeling was bad enough, but hearing that hesitation and the way Rona changed what she said made her feel even worse. That was the closest that the girl had ever heard the General come to admitting any sort of feeling for Tarn. She set her hands on her hips as the older woman turned and walked over to her hummingbird.

Since he was partly to blame for the theft of the pod, BJ stepped forward. “The King gave it to me. I should have been here with it. I’ll do whatever it takes to help you get it back.”

“I appreciate the offer,” Rona said over her shoulder, not even looking at them as she checked the fit of her mount’s harness, “but Wrathwood is too dangerous.” It wasn’t just that she was angry at the pair that she didn’t want them to come with her.

“But you can’t go alone.” He protested. For some reason, even though he had no idea what Wrathwood was, BJ got a very bad feeling about Rona going there by herself. Not that she couldn’t take care of herself, but the General was only one person and going up against a whole army of Boggans. “What about the whole  _Leaves-Tree_ thing that you said? Neem, tell her.” Seeing no response from Rona as she led her bird to the entrance, he turned to the caterpillar for support.

Neem came up beside him and gestured with two of her arms at the darkening sky. The sun had just set and the full moon just beginning to rise. “Look, lad, the moon’s coming up. That’s bloom-or-die time. So if no one has a better plan…”

“Why don’t we sneak in, in disguise?” Nodine hesitantly suggested as she came up on Neem’s other side with her sparrow. It was probably a stupid idea, but it was all she could come up with. Evidently Rona thought so too.

“Great idea.” She said sarcastically as she swung up into the saddle. The General leaned over one knee as she gave Nodine a mocking look. “I’ll go as a grasshopper and you can be my cricket boyfriend.”

Okay, so maybe it was a dumb idea. She was at least trying to make up for her mistake. Nodine spread her arms as she turned to the older woman. “It’s dangerous, I could get killed. I thought you’d like that.” She did believe that. Honestly considering how mad Rona was with her, Nodine was sure that the General would gladly prefer to see her dead at the end of a Boggan spear or something.

Rona hated to admit that the girl’s suggestion was actually a good idea. She knew how dangerous going into Wrathwood was after all, this wouldn’t be the first time she had done it, and being disguised would greatly increase their chances. There was one glaring problem with the idea though. “I don’t have any Boggan armour handy. Do you?”

Before Nodine could say anything to that, the answer came from a source that surprised both her and Rona.

“I know where we can get some.” BJ said. And he did because he had suddenly realised that he had seen Boggan armour before. Just this morning, in fact, when he had arrived at the house. The teen turned and quickly climbed onto the sparrow’s back. As he rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie, BJ looked from Nodine to Rona and asked pointedly, “Well?”

Nodine looked up at him then back at Rona wordlessly, lifting one hand. She was actually stunned that BJ had basically commandeered her bird.

“I gotta say, six hands are better than two. That’s been my experience.” Neem put in holding up all six of hers to make her point. Rona looked at the caterpillar for a moment and then back at the teens. She didn’t like this, but if BJ knew where to get Boggan armour, she couldn’t object.

Taking the General’s silence for agreement, Nodine just sighed silently and climbed up behind BJ as he shifted forward in the saddle. “You might want to hang on.” he said to her before kicking the sparrow into flight. “Hyah!”

“Whoa!” Nodine shrieked wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. She had barely gotten settled before he had sent her bird flying. To her complete shock, immediately after take-off, BJ did a tight barrel-roll. She couldn’t help but be impressed though. BJ  _had_ said he was new to bird-riding, but apparently he learned fast!

Rona follow close behind as the trio flew off over the forest.

*~*~*~*


	6. Chapter 6

In the very center of Wrathwood, Mandra was holding court in front of her _guests_. The Boggan Queen paced back and forth carrying a bundle of mementos. She smiled cruelly as she said, “My daughter was born on a night like this. These were her baby fangs.” She held up a pair of tiny sharp teeth for a second then pulled out an old larval shell. “And here’s the first skin she ever molted. She was big for a larva. She took after her father.”

Maude and Grubby were huddled together surrounded by a jeering mob of Boggans. Both were whimpering and moaning since being subjected to Mandra’s ruminations was the worst thing they could imagine. “Your stories are boring and torturous.” Maude whined.

“And the Leafmen took her from me.” Mandra snapped, her demeanor changing to full rage for a second as she tossed aside the bundle before going back to conciliatory, “So I took something of theirs. It’s basic etiquette. An Eye for an Eye.” She leaned down and poked first Grubby, then Maude, in an eyestalk causing both to yelp in turn.

“Jerk!” Maude muttered.

The Boggan Queen ignored that as she looked down on the slug and snail, smirking wickedly. She spread her arms to indicate the dark, dank chamber. “Tonight, your Pod will bloom here. And when a Pod blooms in darkness, it belongs to the darkness. It will become my little Dark Princess.”

The slug held the pod away as Mandra reached a hand out to it. The pod reacted to the Boggan’s interest by drawing in tightly on itself. Mandra’s smirk widened as she drew back again. “I’ll destroy the forest with the very thing you hoped would save it.” She finished.

Grubby and Maude looked at each other and burst into laughter. “I hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t say that in the scrolls.” Grubby scoffed at the Boggan Queen as Maude shook her head beside the snail. Mandra’s smirk remained firmly in place as she held up a tattered piece of paper.

“It does in the part _I_ have.” She told them smugly. Both slug and snail recoiled back with identical yelps, realising that this was the missing piece of the scroll.

*~*~*~*

The house was nearly all dark when they arrived. Only a couple of lights were on inside. It took all three of them to push open the study window. None of them paid attention to the small jar they knocked over in the process. As BJ led the way inside, Nodine wondered how he knew about this place and that there was Boggan armour here. She kept silent however.

BJ looked around as Rona and Nodine walked past him and jumped down to the windowsill. Being inside his house, seeing it from this perspective was very very strange. Everything looked very different.

“Hey! The Boggan armor, where is it?” Nodine called back to him softly. BJ jumped down beside them and pointed across the huge messy room at the table in the center.

“Over there.” He said just as softly.

“Let’s make this quick.” Rona commented. Then from a standing start, she made an incredible leap across the empty air, landing on the tall stool and bouncing up onto the table. The General rested a hand on her sword-hilt and looked back at the two teens as she raised a challenging brow.

Nodine was more than willing to meet that challenge, but she was going to put her own spin on it. The girl knew she couldn’t do the kind of jump Rona had, so she chose a different route. Not as spectacular, but just as showy. Taking a few running steps she jumped down, grabbing onto then bouncing off of a tall jar. She did it again on a second and then back-flipped to a third. From there she dove to the wood floor, tumbling on landing and rolling back onto her feet. She turned to look back up at BJ and waved. “Come on.”

BJ didn’t want to be impressed, but he was. Unfortunately, now it was his turn. He also backed up to take a run at it. Just before reaching the edge he decided that he would try to be as showy as Nodine so he did a hand-spring before launching into a swan-dive off the edge of the windowsill. Mid-air BJ somersaulted, aiming for one of the many jars his mother had stacked below. But bad luck struck as he landed near the rim of the jar. His right boot slipped on the edge and sent him to land flat with a metallic thunk on the next jar down.

“Ah-ow!” Nodine winched in sympathy. That had to have hurt. She couldn’t help the soft giggle though. BJ’s landing had been pretty funny as well.

The boy got up with a quiet groan and crawled to the edge of the jar. Okay, so gymnastics weren’t his forte. Better to take the safer route the rest of the way. BJ swung over the lip until he hung by his fingers before letting go. He dropped to the floor, but unfortunately for him, his bad luck hadn’t ended. He hit a handful of pencils lying on a slanted book which rolled under his feet. BJ cried out in surprise as he was sent skittering across the floor and into a mess of dust-bunnies under a roller-cabinet.

Nodine giggled as she came over. “That was awesome. Here. Up we go.” She held out a hand to BJ as he crawled out of the dust coughing. He took it and Nodine helped pull him to his feet again. She had to cover her grin once he was upright because he looked ridiculous. There were small clumps of dust stuck to his arms and hair plus a larger one wrapped around his left leg.

“Ugh. That is some static cling.” BJ muttered in annoyance. He started to brush at the clump attached to his leg, but then started to lose his balance. Instinctively he put out a hand to steady himself.

“No, that’s metal, don’t touch that!” Nodine tried to warn him, seeing his hand got straight for the metal stool leg beside them. Her warning came too late however. With ZAP, BJ was sent flying with a groan. He slowly sat up, his short red hair sticking up in clumps. Nodine came over to help him up again, but just as their hands touched a spark jumped between their fingers, zapping both. “Ow!” the girl yelped.

Rona was getting impatient with the two teens. She leaned over the edge of the table to glare down at them. “Knock it off.” She called down in a harsh whisper.

BJ was getting his hair to lie flat again when Nodine poked his arm, causing another spark. “Ow. Quit it.” He glared at the girl and smacked her shoulder lightly in return, shocking her this time.

“Ow! No, you quit it.” She retorted back, snickering. She poked him again.

“I’m not doing it.” he answered, trying not to laugh as he shocked her again.

Nodine tried to flinch away. “Stop!” She went to push him back a little and ended up zapping him once more.

The boy yelped, clutched his upper arm for a second then raised his hand to poke her back. “I’m not doing…”

“Now!” Rona snapped from above them, getting fed up with their antics. Both teens froze and simultaneously decided it was better to stop their little game. They were already on thin ice with Rona as it was.

Nodine jumped up onto the bottom rung of the stool and beckoned down to BJ. “Come on.” She said and he jumped up after her. Soon the pair made it up to the top. The three of them, Rona, Nodine, and BJ, walked along the cluttered table. It was covered in more jars, bottles and various other things.

“You know… some of this stuff looks familiar.” Nodine commented as they came up to a corkboard filled with displayed bits of Boggan armour. Her eyes widened as she saw something that looked very familiar indeed. “Hey, that’s my saddle! Where are we?” she asked, pulling the little green saddle free in a shower of pins.

Right on cue, the table shuddered under their feet. BJ couldn’t help but gasp as they looked up to see his mother, giant sized, walk into the room. Rachel didn’t even notice the three tiny figures on the table as she carried a black shoe box into the computer room and sat down in the office chair.

“Oh, it’s where this lady lives.” Rona said in understanding. Wanting a better look, she jumped up on some tall canisters, going to one knee as she looked across at the woman. Nodine laughed and tossed aside her saddle before jumping up beside Rona. BJ followed to crouch on the girl’s other side.

The girl grinned and nudged Rona’s arm before looking at BJ. “I can’t believe it. She’s been crashing around the forest like a bear for years. Most Stompers just come and go, but this lady’s relentless.” She told him.

He looked at her in confusion, not sure if he had heard Nodine correctly. Was that what they called normal people? “Wait. Stompers?” he asked.

“Yeah.” she answered as Rona gave a little snort of laughter, “You know, like us, but big and dumb and slow… always stomping on things. _Stompers_.” Nodine gave the other teen an odd look. She was beginning to think that maybe BJ had been literally living under a rock his entire life. There were so many common things that he seemed to know nothing about. Bird-riding, Boggans, and now this.

“And this one is obsessed with finding us. Obviously that’s a security risk.” Rona put in then stood up, adjusting the fit of her vambraces. “Can’t have one of her big fat feet stepping on Moonhaven.”

Nodine sat back on her heels and nodded, putting her hands on her hips. She slowly got to her feet as she added, “One of her ginormous, flabby, dirty, stinky…”

“Okay, I got it.” BJ cut in, annoyed, as he stood beside them. This was his mother after all. He did not want to hear them insulting her like that.

Rona turned back to jump down again. “So we’ve been throwing her off the trail.” She said over her shoulder.

BJ was stunned. They had been what? This whole time that his mother had been searching for these people, they knew that? He waved an arm to indicate all the clutter in the room. “So you’re just messing with her? But she’s found all this stuff.”

If Nodine didn’t know any better she could have sworn it sounded like BJ was defending the Stomper. It was almost like he knew her or something. Rona turned to look at him. “She only finds what we want her to find.” she said and then she gestured towards a huge map spread out on the table. The General pointed first to a large cluster of pins stuck in it and then to an empty spot that was the location of Moonhaven. “Look at her map. We’ve got her looking everywhere, but where we are.”

Having made her point, Rona stepped off the edge of the jar to drop back down to the table. Nodine laughed as she jumped down after the older woman. “I love how this woman talks. Looook aaat thiiis floowwwerrr.” She slowed her voice down, making exaggerated arm and leg movements before picking a pretend flower and gesturing at it.

To her surprise, Rona laughed suddenly. Rona had to admit that the girl was a pretty good mimic. The General couldn’t remember the last time she had really laughed about something and decided to get in on the act. She clutched her right elbow and waved the ‘injured’ limb about. “I huuurt myyy eeelllbooow.”

Both began laughing as BJ came up behind them. He was not amused in the least by their antics and was especially surprised that Rona was making fun of his mother too. “I think that’s kind of mean.” He pointed out, really hoping that they would stop.

“Whhoooo saaaid thhaaat?” Nodine pretended to look around as she asked that, keeping it up.

“It’s her life’s work.” BJ said, seriously getting mad now. This had gone on far enough. “She’s my _MOM_!” That caused both Nodine and Rona to stop laughing immediately.

Rona looked away with a very guilty expression. At that revelation, she realised that she should have guessed that. After all, she knew he was a Stomper and that it was very likely that this was his house. It made sense that the Stomper that they were making fun of was his mother. Nodine, on the other hand, couldn’t believe he was serious.

She turned to look at him, asking “She what?”

The boy turned a glare on her and bit out, “ _I’m_ a Stomper.” He jabbed a thumb at his chest as he spoke. Nodine just gave him a weird look before laughing again.

“What happened? You got shrunk?” she asked, amused.

“Yes! Which she knows.” he replied in exasperation before turning to give Rona an accusatory look.

She looked at Rona as well. Hold on, the General _knew_ about this? And didn’t say anything? “Seriously?” she asked.

Rona struggled to keep her amusement from her face. She really ought to have told Nodine that particular fact. It had honestly slipped her mind. Still it was funny how the girl had unwittingly made a fool of herself in front of BJ. “It’s been a weird day for everybody.” she said, a chuckle in her voice.

BJ crossed his arms and glared at Nodine again. He asked snidely, “You got a problem with Stompers?” When he said that, Nodine just couldn’t help herself. She had been all set to offer an apology, but now she just _had_ to tease him once more. She put on the most tragic face she could and, for good measure, she even pouted a little.

“A Stomper squashed my aunt.” she told him sadly. BJ fell for it completely. The annoyed look dropped from his face to be replaced with one of concern. He gently put his hands on her shoulders.

“Oh, my gosh. Really?” he asked.

She had wanted to keep the ruse going, but the urge to laugh was too great. She took a deep breath and answered, giggling, “No. I’m just messing with you.”

Normally, BJ was never one to hit a girl for any reason. He would have never pictured himself doing it. That was not how he had been raised. _However_ , when he saw that Nodine was making fun of him, all bets were off. He shoved her hard, making a very annoyed sound, before he even realised what he was doing. Thoroughly peeved now, he stalked off to the far edge of the table.

Nodine watched him go for a few seconds then turned back to Rona. “Too far?” she asked. Rona smirked at her

“Try it again,” she told the girl as she turned to start gathering the Boggan armour off the corkboard, “maybe he’ll punch you harder.”

BJ stood at the edge of the table, looking across to where his mother sat going through the shoebox. Seeing her there surrounded by the many monitors, all alone, tore at him. Yes, he had been ready to just walk out of her life that day, but now, knowing what he did, he wanted to just get back home again. He jumped down from the table, using some open drawers as steps, and walked across the floor to the next room.

Due to the time distortion because of the difference in size when Rachel spoke, it sounded to BJ like, “I’mmmm soooorrrrrryyyy.”

*~*~*~*

“I’m sorry.” Rachel said softly to the picture in her hands that she had pulled from the box of mementos. She had been doing a lot of thinking in the hours since she had read BJ’s note. She had really believed that the two of them could be a family again. That he would be as enthusiastic about her research as she was. And that they would work together on it. But she had been so wrong and now it was too late. Her son was gone.

The box was filled with things she hadn’t bothered to look at in far far too long. Ever since her divorce in fact. The picture showed a slightly younger version of herself standing with her arm around the waist of a tall man with dark brown hair and laughing eyes. In the man’s arms was a four-year old BJ and Mollie as a puppy. It had been taken by the realtor the day they had bought this house.

Little could that younger Rachel have guessed that within a few months she would find the first clue about the tiny forest people and by six months she would be obsessed with them. Before two years were over, she would be divorced and her husband and son gone.

“I guess he’s right about me, huh, Mollie?” the Professor continued absently to the sleeping pug. She really wasn’t sure herself which _he_ she meant. Her ex-husband or her son. “All I seem to be able to do is…”

*~*~*~*

“…drrriiiiveee peeeoooppllee aaawwaaaayy.” Hearing his mother say such things made BJ realise just how much his leaving had hurt her. He hadn’t meant to. He had just been so mad at her for obsessing over something that he didn’t understand. Now he did though. And he couldn’t even share it with her. Even though he was in the same room as Rachel, it was like he was still miles away.

“No, Mom, you didn’t!” he yelled up at her, waving his arms. “I’m here! And you’re right about all of it. Don’t stop looking. Not now.” Unfortunately for BJ, no matter how loudly he yelled, his voice sounding like fast high chirping to his mother. Sounds that were easy to miss or ignore.

Something did hear them however, even if the Professor didn’t. Mollie woke suddenly at the sound of BJ’s voice. The high sound was still in the old mostly deaf dog’s hearing range. She scrambled up in her dog bed and looked around for the source.

BJ was still trying to get his mother’s attention. “Mom! Mom, just turn around!” He then heard something come up behind him and spun around. His eyebrows shot up as Mollie bounded over to him, snuffling loudly. Even though she was a cute _little_ pug normally, from this perspective she was a huge as Godzilla. And about as terrifying. “Uh-oh.”

Knowing what one of the first things Mollie liked to do to greet someone was to lick them, BJ slowly backed up. The pug’s pink tongue was huge as the dog licked its chops. The boy held up his hands in an attempt to ward off the dog and said in a cautionary tone, “Mollie… no kisses.”

Always a dog that did her own thing, Mollie didn’t listen to the warning. With a lunge and a bark that sounded more like a mastiff’s than a pug’s, she started to chase after him as BJ gave a yell of fright and ran back into the other room. If BJ thought Mollie was fast from the normal perspective, the fact that she was almost effortlessly keeping up as he ran away just proved that fact home.

*~*~*~*

“Mollie!” Rachel said distractedly over her shoulder as she heard the little dog start running around and yapping at something. It wasn’t enough to draw the older woman out of her sad thoughts however.

*~*~*~*

Nodine hoisted a bundle of Boggan armour onto her hip as Rona turned to her. The General had a Boggan bow and two arrows in one hand and a mask made of a piece of wood covering her face. “Hey, how do I look?” Rona asked, holding her arms in a menacing stance. The girl looked at her and was beginning to wonder if the pressure of it all was starting to get to the older woman. She had never known Rona to act this silly before.

“As scary as ever.” She replied. At that moment they heard BJ’s yell. Rona took off the mask as they both looked up in time to see a telescope, a lamp, and a rolled up projector screen get knocked over in succession. Together they ran to the edge of the table and jumped down to the floor. As BJ ran up to them, Nodine drew her sword with her left hand and asked, “Are you okay?”

The boy didn’t answer. He just turned around to look back the way he had come. The answer came soon enough as Mollie bounded around the end of the table, headed straight for them. Rona tossed aside the Boggan mask and Nodine dropped the bundle of armour as they stared at this huge slobbering beast coming at them.

“RUN!” the girl screamed as she grabbed BJ’s hand. She pulled the other teen back in the direction he had fled. Rona followed, keeping an eye on the dog as it over shot them. The sudden change in direction caused the pug, as she tried to turn around, to slide into several cans and books.

*~*~*~*

Hearing the crash behind her, Rachel grew a little fed up with Mollie’s antics. She spun around in her chair, whipping off her glasses. “Mollie, will you please stop?” she said in irritation and then gasped in shock. She had just caught sight of three tiny specks darting very fast around the table with her dog in yapping pursuit. “Oh! Oh!”

The Professor snatched up her headset and looked at the fleeing specks through its special goggles. What she saw astonished her. A tiny woman in green armour and very short silver hair looked back over her shoulder as she ran from Mollie. Rachel couldn’t believe it. “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! They’re here! They-they’re in my house!” she cried.

She was so excited she didn’t even glance at the other two specks. Finally, definitive proof of her theory. If she could just catch one of them, she could find out so many things. She had so many questions to be answered. Rachel spun around searching for her collector, a device she created out of an old vacuum and a leaf-blower motor. She spotted it under the desk to her left and dove for it, nearly tripping over her office chair in the process.

It took a couple of pulls on the starting cord to get it going. Once the motor fired up, she slung the unit onto her back and turned into the other room, pointing the hose towards her hoped-for prizes.

*~*~*~*

Nodine and BJ had circled the table as they ran from Mollie, only to screech to a halt when they saw the hose. Both yelled as they turned and ran back the other way. Mollie gave a loud bark as she turned to follow the pair. BJ kept running, but Nodine stopped as they managed to pass the dog again. The girl held up her sword, trying to think of a way to fend off the huge animal.

Rona had stopped far behind them and dropped to one knee, drawing the Boggan bow. What they needed was to distract the dog long enough for them to get out of the house, which they couldn’t do with it chasing them everywhere.

BJ saw the General drop and take aim. He wasn’t sure which she was aiming for, Mollie or his mother, but he didn’t want either to get hurt. “No!” he cried, lunging for the older woman. He knocked her aside just as Rona fired. The arrow went wide, missing Mollie completely. Instead it headed straight for Rachel.

*~*~*~*

Rachel yelped at the unexpected and sudden sharp prick in the back of her thigh. She ended up dropping her collector and lurching back. An even sharper pain shot up her arm as the point of her left elbow jammed on the cluttered table behind her. A stapler and a mug full of old cold coffee got knocked off the table in the process.

Clutching it with her right hand she cried, “Ow!...”

*~*~*~*

“OOOooooowwww! IIIII huurttt myyyy eeellllboooowww!” The stomper that was BJ’s mother cried out.

Nodine couldn’t help but laugh hearing that. It was even funnier than how Rona did it. She pointed up at the woman, “Did you hear that? She said it!” Giggling still, she looked back the Professor. Her amusement stopped when she saw the mug and stapler fall straight for her.  “Whoa!” she yelped and literally dove out of the way of the impending doom.

The white mug hit the floor and shattered, spraying however many days old coffee all over the hapless Mollie. Rona’s eyes narrowed as the dog began to shake off the muddy brown liquid and she slung the Boggan bow over her shoulder. Far above the pug’s head, she spotted the cord to the window-blinds. Perfect. That’ll do.

Swiftly she gathered up the discarded mask and bundle of Boggan armour. With a leap, the General grabbed onto the end of one of Mollie’s ears. As the dog shook her head vigorously, the movement sling-shot Rona up to the windowsill. She somersaulted on landing, dumping her burdens at the same time, and sprang up to where the cord was fastened to the wall.

Nodine and BJ quickly ran past the dog right when Mollie finished shaking off the coffee. Rona pulled the blind-cord free and jumped back to the windowsill with it, tossing the free end down to the two teens below. Mollie started after the pair just as they reached the cord, grabbing onto it. The General yanked on the cord hard, releasing the locking mechanism. As one would expect, that caused the blinds to drop and the cord to retract, lifting all three of them. The pug jumped and snapped at BJ’s heels just as he and Nodine were lifted out of range.

*~*~*~*

The Professor readjusted her goggles, which had gone askew when she banged her elbow. She was praying that the tiny people were still there. That she hadn’t missed her chance at catching one. The movement of the window blinds caught her attention and she peered in that direction.

She could make out two tiny people hanging onto the end of the blind-cord as it retracted. “Oh, oh, oh, oh!” she cried and snatched up her collector again. In a rush, she pointed the end of the hose at the escapees.

*~*~*~*

BJ yelped as he felt the suction start to pull him away from the cord. Nodine felt it too and looked down to see him lose his hold. In a flash she let go with one hand and grabbed onto his. Even if this was his mother, neither of them knew what she meant to do with that machine of hers. BJ’s eyes met Nodine’s. Both sets were wide with fear.

“No! Don’t let go!” She cried, feeling his hand begin sliding through hers. She tried to tighten her grip. “Don’t let go! No!”

Too late. BJ was yanked away with a shocked cry. The boy disappeared into the black tube. When he hit a metal plate, it turned and dumped him into the glass bug jar that was attached to the machine. Heedless of the air and dust still whirling around him, BJ jumped to his feet and pressed his hands against the glass, looking out at Nodine, his green eyes still wide.

Nodine gasped and felt her heart drop to see him trapped in there.

*~*~*~*

Seeing that she had caught one, Rachel was absolutely thrilled. Now, finally, she could find out all she wanted about these mysterious little people. Instantly the Professor dropped the collector and unscrewed the bug jar. She spun it around in her hand and peered closely at her prize. “Oh, oh! Hello there, my little friend!” she said giggling a little, not even thinking that being suddenly sucked into a jar would not make this tiny person think kindly of her.

What she thought she’d find, she wasn’t exactly sure of. Perhaps a person dressed in green like the woman she had seen moments ago. What she got, however, was something completely unexpected. A two inch tall version of her own son.

The little BJ was pounding his fists against the glass and shouting, “Mom! Mom!” The tone of his voice was one of desperately trying to get her attention.

Rachel gasped in shock, pushing her goggles up. What the…? What was she seeing? She squinted at the jar, bringing it right up to her nose. It couldn’t be possible. It just couldn’t be. Still the flickering image of a two inch tall son was still there.

She suddenly felt light-headed and the room seemed to spin. “Oh!” she moaned softly as her light green eyes rolled back in her head. The jar slipped out of her hand as she fainted dead away, collapsing across the map on the table.

*~*~*~*

“Mom! Mom!” BJ repeated, still banging on the glass jar. He needed her to let him go. He needed to help Rona and Nodine bring the pod back. Otherwise he might never get home again. He cried out in surprise when the jar tipped sideways as it fell out of his fainting mother’s hand.

Nodine froze on the jar she had jumped to when the bug jar shattered on the table with BJ still inside. She held her breath, hoping he hadn’t been hurt by any of the glass shards. It was a relief to see him stand up. At that moment, if she still had any doubts that he actually was a Stomper, they were squashed flat by what he did next.

Slowly BJ walked over to where his mother lay, sprawled across her map. Her breathing was slow and heavy, but she seemed all right. Gently he placed a hand on her forehead, right between her brows. He wanted badly to tell her it was okay, that he would be back, and that he was sorry for running away in the first place. Instead he pecked her softly on the forehead, though she wouldn’t have felt it even if she had been awake.

“Let’s go.” Rona said from the window. She didn’t like to rush the boy, but they did still have a mission to complete.

Nodine glanced back at the older woman for a second and then turned back to BJ. “You can’t stay here. You’re with us now!” she told him, feeling guilty that she had to say that. She beckoned to him before following Rona out the window.

He sighed and placed a hand on Rachel’s forehead again. “I’ll come home soon, Mom. I promise.” he whispered softly. BJ turned to follow the other two out, tucking his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. Just then something caught his eye. The pins stuck into the map just beyond his mother’s nose. Maybe he could do something, leave some sign as to where he went.

He glanced back at his mother and then at the window to see if Rona or Nodine was still watching. Neither one was, so he quickly went over to a bright red push pin.

“Come on, BJ, we gotta go.” Nodine called, turning around in her saddle to look for him. Rona was also on her bird and ready to get going, the Boggan armour under one arm.

BJ hurried to the edge of the table now that he was finished leaving his message for his mother. Looking down, he saw Mollie on the floor. The pug tilted her head as she looked back up at him, tongue lolling. He also saw the stapler sitting on the floor next to her. With a determined expression, BJ jumped and bounced on the stapler, using it to spring-board up to the windowsill again. He took one final look behind him as he went to the side of Nodine’s sparrow.

“You think she’s okay?” he asked, still a little worried for his mother. Nodine reached out a hand to help him climb up behind her.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine, their heads are like rocks.” she assured him and then mentally kicked herself. Oh that was tactful. Nodine decided she _really_ needed to learn to put a filter in between her head and her mouth. Hurriedly she tried again. “Uh, smart rocks.” Wait, that _wasn’t_ any _better_! She silently cursed and chose to keep quiet as she sent her bird flying after Rona’s. Before she swallowed her whole leg instead of just her foot.

BJ hardly noticed either her words or her silence.

As the group flew away into the night, they left Rachel behind still passed out on the table. A red push pin marking a new spot on the map then it had previously.

*~*~*~*


	7. Chapter 7

Wrathwood was swarming with Boggans of all different types. Big and small. There were hundreds of them and they were all headed towards the great dead tree that was their headquarters. Nodine shuddered a little as she peeked out from their hiding place. “That is a whole lot of ugly.” She muttered, turning around and closing the mouth of the lizard skull helmet over her face.

She was already weird-ed out by the frog-skin cloak tied around her shoulders. She also had a wooden vambrace on her right arm. At least her clothing was dull-coloured enough to pass without further disguise. Of the three of them, she actually had the least Boggan armour on.

“Ugh! It smells like something died in here.” BJ complained as Rona set a bird-skull on his head. The boy had a carved out chestnut shell around his shoulders and bits of dead leaves tied over his clothing, with a larger piece wrapped like a skirt around his waist. He had complained about that too.

Rona had used the carapace of a large beetle, complete with wings, to cover her Leafwoman armour, though she did discard her General’s coat. The Boggan mask and wood vambraces completed her disguise. “Something did.” she told him pointedly, pulling the mask over her face, and then leading the way out into the gathering crowd. Nodine and BJ fell into line behind the General.

“How do we know where to go?” the girl whispered to Rona. The older woman had led them into the Boggan throng with a confidence that was surprising.

Rona glanced at Nodine walking beside her through the holes in her mask. “I’ve been here before… with your mother.” She was hesitant to mention Nodine’s mother. Not only remembering the girl’s reaction the last time she had done so, but also because of what had happened the last time she had been in Wrathwood.

Nodine was startled by that revelation. A sinking feeling started to grow. Her mother had always told her stories about her work as a Leafwoman. And yet in none of them had there been any mention of being in this place. “She never told me about this.” She looked around at the dead and decaying surroundings before looking back at Rona.

“She never got the chance.” Rona broke eye contact with the younger girl. She couldn’t help the odd tone to her voice as she spoke. Though this was not the time to tell Nodine what had happened to her mother here, Rona decided that later, when this was all over, she would. Nodine deserved to know the truth.

Those simple five words made Nodine pause. It hit her then like a ton of rocks. If her mother never got the chance to tell her about coming to Wrathwood, that meant that it had been her last mission. The one she never returned from. And now Nodine was about to go into the same place. A very bad feeling filled her then, but as BJ came up beside her, she quickly followed Rona again.

BJ glanced at Nodine when the girl paused. He had only caught the tail end of their conversation and he would have said something to her, but she moved on before he could. Overhead a few bats fluttered around the top of the tree stump.

*~*~*~*

Maude and Grubby blinked and looked up as the cover on their hole was lifted. Mandra smirked down at the slug and snail. “How’s my little Dark Princess?” the Boggan Queen called down to the pair.

Both rolled their eyes as they turned back to the pod they were tending in a rank pool of water. Mandra had ‘checked in’ on them several times already since they had been kidnapped. By now their fear had given way to irritation. “It’s fine.” Maude said, bouncing the pod in the water lightly.

“Good. Because if it dies, you die.” Mandra’s tone turned threatening. Since the slug and snail were the ones needed to take care of the pod, she was only putting up with them until it bloomed. Once they were no longer needed, well, she had plans for that too.

“We know.” Grubby replied in complete irritation. The Boggan Queen had made that threat more than once. “You’ve said.” Satisfied that she had made her point, Mandra began to close up the hole again. Just before it was shut, Maude got a rather wicked idea for a little prank to play on their captor.

“Ugly says ‘what’?” the slug called out quickly.

Mandra yanked the cover up again, positive that she had heard one of the pair say something. “What?” she snapped.

Both slug and snail began to snicker to themselves, more than a little amused. “Nothing.” Maude drawled. The Boggan Queen narrowed her eyes, still suspicious, and slowly dropped the cover again.

*~*~*~*

BJ couldn’t help but stare all around him as he followed Rona and Nodine along a narrow ledge. This place was creepier than any haunted house he had ever been in. Or like the setting of a horror movie. He kept expecting something to jump out at them. He even walked backwards a few times just to keep watch. At one point, when he was doing that, he bumped into something.

He turned and squinted to see what he had run into. It was a huge sleeping bat. BJ’s eyes went wide and he would have yelped if Nodine hadn’t appeared right next to him and clapped a hand over his mouth. She had seen him stop out of the corner of her eye. “Shhh!” she hissed softly, holding a finger to her own lips. The girl then pointed up with the same finger before turning to continue on.

The boy’s eyes followed her finger up. Overhead was a huge colony of bats. They covered the ceiling and most of the walls of the great inner chamber of the tree stump. Each was wrapped tight in its leathery wings. There was an ever present chittering coming from all sides. BJ slowly walked along in Rona’s and Nodine’s wake across the chamber unable to take his eyes off all the bats.

Rona lead the way deeper into the dead tree, along more ledges, across thin bridges, and through tunnels. Finally she slipped through a crevice and knelt at the edge of a high ledge overlooking the huge open cavern at the center of the tree stump. The area below was criss-crossed by more arched bridges and cobwebs and lined with ledges. Boggan soldiers patrolled everywhere. As the two teens knelt on either side of the General, she scanned both below then up above their position.

“There’s our exit.” She told the younger pair, pointing with two fingers. “Meet me back here when you’ve got the Pod and the slugs.”

Nodine looked at the vast area below. That was all very well and good, but where were they even going to start looking. “How are we supposed to find them?” she asked, lifting a hand.

The older woman pointed down to a ledge a little ways down from theirs. Twin shiny glistening trails lead the way into another tunnel. “Just follow the slime.” She said as the trio watched a large Boggan slip in said slime and grunt in anger.

Something suddenly came to BJ. It sounded like Rona was sending him and Nodine on their own to get Maude and Grubby. “Aren’t you coming with us?” he asked as Rona stood up and pulled off the mask. Rona began stripping off the beetle carapace and the Boggan vambraces.

“I’m gonna make sure nobody follows you. Don’t worry; you get the easy part…” There was a wicked grin on the usually serious General’s face as she winked at them. “I get the _fun_ part.” With that, she turned and jumped down to a bridge below. She landed in a crouch between two Boggan patrols, neither of which noticed her. She was about to fix that.

“Hey, look! It’s a Leafwoman!” Rona called out, spreading her arms as she stood up. The Boggans around her started looking everywhere but where she was, trying to locate the Leafwoman in their presence. As usual, Boggans weren’t the most observant creatures in the forest.  Sometimes Rona thought they were even worse than BJ’s Stomper mother. Time to give them a little hint. “I’ll keep this simple. _I_ run… _you_ try to catch me.”

At that moment, the Boggans did finally see her standing right among them. Now that she had their attention, Rona darted to her left and started running. The huge Boggan in her way swung its large bone club at her. The General jumped over the swing and onto another ledge. A trio of Boggans were hot on her trail now. She ran along the ledge and into a very short tunnel. The three Boggans followed and came out on the other side without noticing the Leafwoman wasn’t in front of them. Rona came out of a lower tunnel and smirked as she looked back over her shoulder at the mistaken Boggans.

Nodine almost smacked herself in the face to watch all this. Oh, great. Apparently she was becoming a bad influence on the General. Either that or Rona had been a _lot_ like her in her youth. More and more Boggans joined in the chase, jumping from ledges and bridges and climbing down the walls. As soon as they cleared off the slimed ledge, Nodine looked at BJ and said, “Let’s go.”

Both teens jumped down and with looks behind them to see if they had been noticed, they made their way into the tunnel. They only got a short way into the tunnel when they spotted a small mob of Boggans rushing down towards them. Nodine and BJ both gasped and froze as the monsters swirled around them and out to main cavern after Rona.

“When I get big again, I am _so_ coming back here with a can of bug spray.” BJ muttered to the girl as they moved on once the Boggans were past them. In fact, he made a mental vow that that would be one of the first things he did when he got home again. She gave him an odd look, but didn’t say anything.

The slime trail led them down the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, it opened into a rank inner chamber. There were ribs, vertebrae, and parts of the skull of some larger animal scattered about. This was where the trail ended as well, yet there was no sign of the slug and snail. BJ pushed back his bird-skull helmet and looked around, calling out softly, “Maude. Grubby.”

A pair of eyestalks popped up from under a large piece of a jawbone. “We’re down here!” Seeing that, both BJ and Nodine rushed over. Nodine went to her knees and pushed aside the cover to the two’s prison. Maude grinned, turning to Grubby. “I told you he’d come for me. This boy is _smitten_.” The slug giggled as a pair of hands grabbed onto her eyestalks. To Maude’s great disappointment, BJ wasn’t the one hauling her out of the hole. It was Nodine. She groaned when she realised that.

“Hand me the Pod!” BJ urged, holding out his hands to take the pod from the slug. He was on the other side of the hole from where Nodine was.

“Oh, come on, you should work on your grip, my girl.” Maude complained, looking up at the girl pulling her out. She passed the pod to BJ and added. “It’s a bit manly.”

Nodine didn’t bother to make a comment on that. The slug could have tried to sound a little more grateful to be rescued, even if it was by her. The girl very briefly considered just leaving Maude there, but only briefly. Honestly, even with how she and the slug regarded each other as rivals, she wouldn’t leave even her among the Boggans. So, she just continued to haul on Maude’s eyestalks. It took about three tries to get her up over the lip.

“No, no, no!” Maude yelped.

Nodine fell backwards as the slug came up. “Whoa! Whoa!” she cried as the slug landed right on top of her. Suddenly she was very grateful for the lizard-skull helmet since it kept her from being smothered by Maude’s bulk. With a grunt the girl shoved her off as the slug giggled.

As this was going on, BJ pulled Grubby up out of the hole. “Hurry, before the guards come back.” he urged the two. They needed to get out of there before they got caught. He looked towards the tunnel they had come down and saw a two shadows move along the tunnel wall. They obviously were a pair of Boggan guards.

“Too late!” Grubby said. “I have a plan! Quick! Everyone hide in their shells!” The snail immediately sucked herself deep inside the spiral shell on her back. BJ, Nodine, and Maude just looked at her with varying looked of _are you kidding?_ Grubby poked her eyestalks out from under the rim of her shell. The snail realised that particular plan wouldn’t work since she was the _only_ one with a shell. “Oh. I have another plan!”

The large Toad and skinny Mosquito guards came around the corner to find discarded Boggan armour on the floor and the open cover to the hole. Both rushed forward and the Mosquito started looking around. Something caught the smaller Boggan’s attention upward and it quickly shoved its larger companion’s head up as well.

Maude and Grubby were crawling along the ceiling of the chamber. BJ, with the pod on his back was hanging from the snail’s eyestalks and Nodine was hanging from the slug’s. The four were headed for a different tunnel high on the chamber’s wall. The girl saw that they had been seen. “Go! Go!”

“Ow! That hurts! Those are my eyes!” Maude started complaining as the larger Boggan started after them.

“Can you go any _faster_?” Nodine asked the slug. At that moment the Toad Boggan jumped and thrust its spear up at the girl. Nodine had to swing her legs out of the way, which caused her to pull harder on Maude’s eyestalks. It jumped again and again.

The slug answered through gritted teeth. “It’s kinda _hard_ when you are _pulling_ on my _brain_!” Nodine didn’t answer as she was too busy with avoiding the Boggan’s spear so that she didn’t end up jabbed in the backside.

*~*~*~*

As Rona ran through the passages and tunnels of the dead tree, she kept her pace to just fast enough to stay frustratingly out of reach of the Boggans. The longer she kept them after her, the better change BJ and Nodine had to get the pod, Maude, and Grubby safely out. She was having a surprising amount of fun doing this. In fact, she hadn’t done anything this crazy since she had been a recruit of Nodine’s age. The General glanced over her shoulder as she rounded a bend to make sure her pursuers were still hot on her trail.

“Rona!” At the sound of her name in Mandra’s drawled voice, Rona came to a stop and looked up. Above her on thin spire was the Boggan Queen. With her right hand holding her Rot-staff, Mandra flung out her left to emphasize her words. “What a surprise. I get so _few_ guests.” Mandra had her customary nasty smirk as she called down to the Leafwoman.

The General smirked back as she drew her sword. She held it up in a two-handed guard position. “Could be the stench of Death. Some people don’t care for it.” she retorted. She was not at all displeased to run into Mandra. She did have a debt to collect from the Boggan Queen after all. Mandra still had to pay for killing Tarn. Rona heard movement behind her and glanced back over her shoulder to see the mob of Boggan minions advancing on her.

They stopped however when their Queen held up her hands. “It’s all right. Rona’s an old…” Mandra planted the butt of her staff on the ground and pretended to think. “Hmm, what do you call someone you’ve known a long time and always _wanted to **DESTORY**_?!” Mandra screamed the last word as she jumped down at Rona, slamming the Rot-staff into the wood bridge between them. Rot caused the wood to splinter and break.

As the bridge collapsed under her feet, Rona jumped and landed on another ledge below. Mandra followed right behind her. The Boggan Queen made a strike at the General’s left side, which Rona immediately blocked, hilt of her sword held high while the point was down. She slid her blade up and around, making the Rot-staff pass over her head.

“I expected you to come. But I didn’t think you’d come alone.” Mandra commented as she swung her weapon around and over her own head, making a downward sweep with it. Rona dodged it as the staff hit the ground, jumping to the side to cling to wall. The Boggan struck again, jabbing the end towards her new position. The General flipped over Mandra’s head and made an overhead strike of her own only to have Mandra catch her sword with the middle of the Rot-staff.

The taller Boggan Queen pressed down on their locked weapons. Rona dropped onto her back and helped send Mandra flying over her head with one foot. She then flipped onto her feet again and looked down to see where Mandra had landed.

The amused nasty smirk was gone from the Boggan’s face as she landed on her feet on another bridge. The Leafwoman jumped down after her, landing on one knee. Mandra swung the staff down on Rona before she could get to her feet. “Who said I’m alone?” the General mocked as she blocked the blow from Mandra, bracing the end of her blade with her free hand.

*~*~*~*

Maude and Grubby had finally brought them out of that tunnel to crawl along the underside of one of the many bridges crossing the main central cavern. BJ inhaled sharply as he looked down to see just how high they were and muttered, “Whoa.” Far below he thought he could make out Rona fighting a tall Boggan in a bat cape, which he guessed was Mandra.

Behind the four came the two Boggan guards. The Toad Type was hanging from the Mosquito Type’s ankles much like Nodine and BJ were hanging from Maude and Grubby. The Mosquito was forced to strain its wings as hard as it could to lift its larger companion. With a snarling effort, it swung the Toad enough for it to kick Nodine in the back.

Nodine instantly swung around on Maude’s eyestalks to see what had hit her. Seeing the Boggans behind them, she lifted her legs and kicked back. Soon she and the Boggan were both trying to kick at each other, since both of them had their hands busy with hanging onto their respective carriers.

BJ heard the commotion and looked back over his shoulder. At that moment the Mosquito Boggan got close enough to Maude to smack the slug in the head. “Ow!” Maude cried and glared at the Boggan. She immediately slapped it back which led to the two of them getting into it as well. During none of this did, Maude or Grubby stop crawling along.

*~*~*~*

The General let out a grunt as she was flung backwards into a wall. She managed to stay on her feet and raise her sword as Mandra lunged at her. Rona somersaulted under the Boggan Queen to avoid the next blow. The wood under her feet started to split apart. As Mandra spun around and made another downward strike, Rona made one of her own at Mandra’s gut. The Boggan Queen blocked again.

“Ooh! So, what’s the plan here?” the Boggan asked. Now it was her turn to mock the General. She swung her staff again and missed as Rona leapt over her head. Rona tried a strike at Mandra’s back only to have her whirl around to block it again. “A hundred Leafmen? A thousand?”  Mandra turned the block into a blow, throwing Rona back into a spider’s web.

The Leafwoman struggled against the sticky strands of the web. “Don’t flatter yourself.” she snapped.

High above at that exact moment, Nodine managed a solid kick right into the Toad Boggan’s jaw and knocked it senseless. The Boggan’s grip on its smaller companion’s ankles came loose and slipped off. The Mosquito Boggan, still straining its wings to support the other Boggan, wasn’t able to compensate for the sudden loss of the weight. It slammed up into the underside of the bridge, knocking itself out.

Both spiralled down and bounced off the bridge on either side of Mandra as the Boggan Queen advanced on the trapped General. Mandra paused for a second then looked up in confusion to see the four escapees. She turned back to Rona and nearly laughed. This was what her enemy had meant? Two teenagers as back-up?

“Well, now I’m just _embarrassed_.” She told Rona before making a great leap to a pinnacle in the center of the great cavern. “I _completely_ over-prepared.” She gave a loud howling screech. It echoed in the vast chamber. Suddenly thousands of Boggans came pouring out of every nook and crevice of the tree stump. They boiled out and up every wall like a swarm of cockroaches.

Rona finally managed to cut herself free of the spider-web. She sheathed her sword and leapt after Mandra. A trio of Boggans tried to catch her at one of the higher bridges, but Rona made the next jump before they could reach her. She had to keep the Boggan Queen from reaching the others. If she could delay her enough that might give Nodine and BJ time to get themselves, the slugs, and the pod away.

The four had made it to one of the ledges. Seeing the Boggans swarm up the walls towards them, Nodine gave BJ a little shove, “Go, go, go!” The girl then turned to help Grubby pull free of the bridge.

Mandra leapt with practiced ease from bridge to ledge to spire, each jump bringing her higher and closer to the teen boy carrying the pod. BJ spotted the Boggan Queen land on the wall below him and stopped, tightening his hold on the pod. Though he wasn’t sure how, he was not going to let Mandra take the pod back.

“I’m afraid you’ll find getting out is a lot _harder_ than getting in.” Mandra called up to the boy as she climbed the wall. She bared her sharp teeth in an evil grin. The Boggan Queen was so focused on him that she never noticed Rona until the General leapt onto her back.

Rona planted one foot against the wall and used it as leverage to pull both Mandra and herself off the wall. They fell back together until they hit one of the many bridges. The Boggan Queen tumbled off and fell the rest of the way to the bottom with a scream. Rona managed to keep from following her by grabbing onto the very edge with her right hand. She looked down, watching Mandra fall and land among her minions far below. Such a fall was not enough to stop the Boggan Queen though. Within seconds Mandra was up and standing on the shoulders of a couple of Boggans.

“Rona! Hang on!” Nodine yelled, coming up beside BJ to see the older woman pull herself up onto the bridge below. Maude and Grubby joined the pair. The girl started to look for the fastest way down to reach her.

As Rona got to her feet, Boggans began swarming her from either end of the bridge. One grabbed the General around the shoulders as another rushed her. Rona punched the second and elbowed herself free of the first. “Go! Take the Pod to Moonhaven!” she ordered, kicking a third Boggan and sending a fourth flying with a right hook.

Nodine dropped to her knees and grabbed onto the edge of the ledge with both hands. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Couldn’t believe that Rona was ordering them on. “I’m not leaving without you!” the girl cried. She didn’t want to do that, leave the General here.

“Now you’re starting to sound…” Rona grunted as another Boggan wrapped its arms around her neck from behind. They were starting to come too fast for her to fight off singly. Still Rona was not giving up the fight.  “… like a _Leafwoman_!” She couldn’t keep her pride in Nodine at the girl’s willingness to help her out of her voice. More Boggans piled in on top of her until not even a speck of her green armour was visible.

“ ** _RONA!_** ” Nodine screamed, reaching out a futile hand. She suddenly felt just how Rona must have when Tarn was killed. Helpless. She wanted to jump down to help the older woman. She wanted to attack the Boggans with everything she had. But she could do neither. There was no time. Movement below caught her eye and Nodine saw that there were still Boggans climbing the walls towards her and the others.

“Come on!” BJ grabbed Nodine’s shoulder to pull her back from the edge. He then turned and began climbing up the last wall to the top. Maude and Grubby climbed up on either side of the boy. Nodine made to follow when a large Boggan grabbed her from behind. The girl jammed her elbow back into the creature’s gut which made it loosen its hold on her. When it lunged again at her, Nodine grabbed onto its wrists to keep it back as it slammed her back into the wall. Just then, one of BJ’s combat boot clad feet came down over her left shoulder.

BJ had seen Nodine struggling with the Boggan and did the only thing he could do at that moment. He kicked the Boggan in the head, stunning it so that the girl was able to shove it back over the edge. That gave her enough time to make the last climb herself as more Boggans made it to the ledge. Once they had reached to top of the tree stump, Nodine put thumb and forefinger to her lips and whistled twice. Her ragged old sparrow answered the call, flying into perch at the end of a long dead branch. The four ran as fast as they could towards the bird.

She slung Grubby onto her bird’s back then scrambled into the saddle. Maude climbed up behind the snail and Nodine pulled BJ up behind her. The girl took one last look behind them, hoping beyond hope that Rona would appear then, but only saw the wave of Boggans charging after them. With time now running out she snapped the reins and shouted, “Hyah!” The sparrow launched into the air just as a Boggan jumped at them. The monster missed and fell. Other Boggans spilled over the edges of the tree stump.

The little bird flew off, carrying its four passengers and the precious pod out of Wrathwood. Rona’s hummingbird chirruped as it watched them go, remaining behind to wait for its mistress to return.

*~*~*~*

BJ looked quietly at the back of Nodine’s head. Silence had fallen among them as the girl’s sparrow flew the long way back to Moonhaven. Maude and Grubby had fallen asleep after telling them about what Mandra had planned for the pod in Wrathwood. He could hear their soft snores behind him. Nodine hadn’t spoken a word since they had left the Boggan’s home-base. He could only imagine what she was going through at that moment. Having to leave Rona behind had left him feeling guilty; it had to be a hundred times worse for Nodine. Silently he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she didn’t even acknowledge it.

Nodine was completely numb. She sat slumped in the saddle, reins held loosely in her hands. Her sparrow was flying pretty much on his own, without any direction from her. Her mind was in a welter of different emotions. Anger. Hate. Grief. Guilt. She blamed herself for everything. If only she had been faster, stronger, she could have gone to rescue Rona. If only she had insisted that _she_ be the one to distract the Boggans. If only she had insisted that Rona come with them or that she go with Rona. If only she hadn’t come up with the idea to sneak in in disguise in the first place. If only she _hadn’t left the pod unattended_. If only, if only, if only. She hated those words.

This was all her fault and now Rona was gone. Left behind in the exact same place that had killed her mother. It was only now that Nodine realized just how much the General had meant to her. Rona really had looked out for her in the years since her mother’s death. And all she had done to repay the woman had been to act like a spoiled brat. Nodine wanted to scream, cry, hit something, but she was still too numb. She didn’t even feel it when BJ put that comforting hand on her shoulder.

A light glow came into view through the trees at the top of a hill ahead of them and BJ stared over Nodine’s shoulder at it. He guessed that it could only be coming from Moonhaven and that meant they were nearly there. Just then, as they followed a stream far below, there was the sound of hummingbird wings around them. Maude and Grubby woke at the sound as he looked around to see a platoon of Leafmen and woman fly up on all sides of them. Their arrival broke Nodine out of her numb trance.

Fione brought her bird up alongside the sparrow. “We’ve been waiting for you.” She called to the teens and then looked back for a second. “Where’s Rona?”

“She… gave us a head start.” Nodine hesitated on answering. She couldn’t bring herself to tell Rona’s second-in-command what had actually happened. BJ glanced at the girl, but didn’t contradict her.

Fione stiffened at Nodine’s tone. She could tell just by it that something had gone terribly wrong. Nodine sounded just like Rona had when the General had returned after the mission that had killed the girl’s mother. The redheaded Leafwoman suddenly had the sinking feeling that they may never see the General again.

Nodine wasn’t finished though. She knew that the danger hadn’t passed. “But the Boggans aren’t far behind.” She warned. Fione gave a firm nod and turned to the others, giving them the signal to spread out and be on alert. They would escort the group the rest of the way into Moonhaven.

As they entered the clearing that was Moonhaven, BJ’s eyes widened at his first sight of the place. It was beautiful; a word he didn’t often use to describe things. The light of the full moon over head shone off the great crag and reflected in the water surrounding it. Below he could see more warriors in their green armour as well as other Jinn coming out. A great cheer started as they passed.

The sound of that cheer put heart into the boy and the sight of these people’s grateful faces actually made him feel strange. Like he truly was a part of something important. Like a hero. The pod in his hands started to take on a glow.

Nodine didn’t feel quite the same way as BJ did. For her the cheers just reminded her of all that she was _not_. She didn’t feel like a hero. More like the returning prodigal daughter. The screw-up that nearly ruined everything. Even so, she decided to put on a good face. She would do this. She would see the pod returned and watch it bloom. She would do it for Rona.

Their escort of Leafmen and woman stayed with them all the way to the landing area, though only Fione and a couple of others landed their Hummingbirds alongside Nodine’s larger sparrow. Neem appeared in the entrance and rushed out to greet them. “You guys made it! I knew you would.”

BJ had to grin a little at the caterpillar’s enthusiastic greeting. It was good to know that someone had faith in them. “You got that from the scrolls?” he asked as he came up beside her.

“Some things you just know.” Neem answered as she led the way inside. Nodine gave an amused half-smile at that as she walked up the few shallow steps after BJ. The rest of the Jinn and warriors crowded in behind them. No one wanted to miss out on this most important event. The great hall was filled with curious bystanders.

Even though he used to live in a big city and had seen many impressive man-made sights, BJ was still a little awed by this vast hall with its great pillars of lilies. There was a reverence here much like what you would expect in a cathedral. Moonlight shone in through a skylight high above them in the center of the room. Just outside the shaft of moonlight stood a pedestal holding a small pool of water.

Grubby, walking behind the two teens with Maude, noticed all the Leafmen and Leafwomen watching the pod’s procession. The snail couldn’t help but walk a little straighter and prouder in their presence.

As they reached the center of the great room, Neem turned to them. The caterpillar was determined to make this event a Grand Production. She took the pod from BJ and began her speech. “Let’s see. Moonlight comes in here, moves along here, reaches the Pod here.” She gestured up at the shaft of light and then acted out her words by moving three hands along the floor to the pedestal before finally gently placing the pod into the water. Neem gestured up at the skylight again to finish with a flourish. “At the moon’s highest peak. Only time it can bloom.”

“Do you know what this means?” Grubby asked in an awed tone to Maude as the pair moved up close to the pod. The slug nodded as a grin spread across her face.

“We single-handedly saved the forest! Eye-five!” The slug turned to the snail, stretching out one eyestalk. Grubby completed the ‘eye-five’ and Maude turned and stuck out her eyestalk again in a low position. “Down low. Too slow.” She yanked away just as the snail went for the low ‘eye-five’. Grubby glared at her friend as Maude giggled.

Something occurred to Nodine just then. This was the end of the adventure for BJ. She held out her right hand towards the pod then turned to him to ask, “So, when the Pod opens, what happens to you?” Even though she suspected what the answer to be, she also kind of hoped it was something else.

BJ had started to lean towards Nodine, not taking his eyes off the pod, as she asked her question. Then her words hit him. This would be the end. “I think I go home.” He couldn’t keep the tiny bit of disappointment from his voice as he answered her.

“Well, I - I guess this is…” Nodine trailed off. She felt the same disappointment that BJ did and she could not bring herself to actually say the word _goodbye_. It was like if she said it, it would make it all the more final. She looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes.

“Yeah, I guess it is.” BJ nodded slightly, also looking down. He was as reluctant as Nodine to say _that_ word too. The two teens stood facing each other in silence, both unsure and unwilling to make the first move. Finally, at the same moment, they lifted their heads to look at each other.

Nodine knew then that one of them had to say or do something. She took a deep breath, intending to tell him how much she would miss him. But the words caught in her throat so instead she glanced down at her hand for a second before holding it out to BJ, giving him a smile. BJ stared at it for a second and then shook it, smiling as well. Whatever else happened, or might have happened, or could possibly have happened between the two of them, they would part as friends.

Both broke the handshake at the same time, turning away from each other. Nodine glanced away to the side, but BJ actually took a second to glance back at the girl before looking back at the pod.

Slowly the shaft of moonlight crept up the side of the pedestal towards the pod, which reached out a tiny thin root to the light. The crowd of Jinn and warriors held its collective breath in anticipation. Every one of them was determined not to miss even the briefest moment of the pod’s blooming. The very tips of the first petals began to spread as the pod leaned towards the moonlight.

Suddenly the shaft of light began to flicker and the pod drew back in on itself. A gasp and soft murmur spread through the watching crowd. Something was going wrong, but what? Nodine frowned and looked up at the skylight to see what the problem was. She wasn’t the only one either. Nearly all the warriors and no few of the rest of the Jinn were as well. Visible through the opening were many dark, flittering forms against the full moon.

“Mandra’s bats!” Grubby cried out, leaning against the pedestal and stretching herself as tall as she could.

Outside, a huge swarm of bats circled Moonhaven. Mandra grinned and gave her familiar screeching howl to her minions. Like a great black cloud, she and her bats swirled up to cover the sky. At every entrance to the crag warriors drew back their bows, sighting on the bats and ready to fire at the first sign of attack.

BJ couldn’t figure it out. The Boggans were here, but they were only flying overhead. “They’re not attacking, they’re just…” Realization hit then and he remember what Maude and Grubby had learned. Of course the Boggans didn’t need to attack. His eyes widened as he looked back at the pod. “…blocking out the moon!”

The pod had started to change. No longer was it glowing softly. In fact it was starting to take on a rather sinister grey colour. The half-opened petals were wilting and shrivelling in on themselves. The worried murmur of the crowd got louder. Nodine wasted no time after that. She ran for the barracks to change into armour, leaving BJ to explain to Fione what they had learned about Mandra’s plan. She was not the only one to get suited and armed up. Every available warrior, on-duty or not, was doing the same.

Methodically, Nodine checked the fit of each piece of that once hated armour. Boots, greaves, breastplate, spaulders, vambraces. She made sure of the fit of each. It was only when she picked up a sword that she paused. Just that morning she had been more than ready to leave the life of a Leafwoman behind her. She had repeatedly told Rona that she was never coming back yet here she was. Rona…

 _Now you’re starting to sound like a Leafwoman_. Those words echoed in her mind and Nodine tightened her lips. Rona had been right. This was what she was meant to do. She slammed the sword into the sheath at her waist and headed out to where the hummingbirds were being readied. She climbed into the saddle of one of the spare birds and was gathering up the reins when Fione came up beside her on her own bird.

“Are you ready for this?” the redheaded Leafwoman asked. She didn’t want to turn any fighter away, but Nodine had quit that morning. Fione could only hope that the girl knew what she was getting herself into now. They couldn’t afford anything less than full dedication.

Nodine glanced at the second-in-command and laughed, some of her normal humour coming back. “Are you kidding? We’re outnumbered, out of time, and the fate of the world is at stake.” She quipped and grinned. “Why’d I quit again?”

Fione gave a short laugh. “See you up there.” She said and took off.

“As soon as I can find my…” Nodine looked around for a second; she was still missing one thing. At that moment Grubby came up on her other side. The snail had a helmet on her head and a determined look on her face. “…helmet. Thank you.” Nodine snatched the helmet off the snail’s head, setting it on her own as she sent her hummingbird into the air after the others.

“Hey, guys!” Grubby called after the departing warriors. “I’m going to need a uniform! And a bird! Oh, that’s… You…” the snail trailed off as she was ignored by everyone. Finally she turned around to head back inside. “That’s all right. I’ll find them myself. A Leafwoman makes do.”

The flock of hundreds of hummingbirds swirled around the great rock as the last fighters joined in. With the hum of the many many wings sounding like angry bees, the army rose up to meet the huge swarm of thousands of bats high over Moonhaven.

Nodine had made her way to the forefront of the charge, but at the sight of just how many of the enemy she was faced with made her hazel eyes widen. Even though she didn’t want to, despite her brave words to Fione, she felt a tiny tinge of fear form in her heart. There were just so many Boggans and she was only one girl. How could she even begin to think she could face this?

Just at that moment, she heard a loud cry off to her left. When she looked she saw Leafmen and woman brandishing their swords and giving voice to a great battle-cry. The roar rose in volume as those to her right added theirs to it. Nodine suddenly realized that, no, she wasn’t facing this alone. The rest of the warriors were there right alongside her. They were all facing this together. _Many Leaves, One Tree_ just like she had always heard. The tinge of fear vanished. The girl drew her sword and held it high as she gave voice to her own ringing roar, adding it to the din.

With the Leafmen battle-cry reverbing in the air, the hummingbirds plunged into the mass of bats. Swords clashed and the arrows zinged through the air as the warriors and Boggans clashed.

*~*~*~*


End file.
